• maporita@unilem.org
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    1 year ago

    “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”. What is the flaming point of having cake if you can’t eat it?

    • umbraklat@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      I wondered about this for years and years, never understanding, especially, since “having cake” and “eating cake” are used interchangeably. But, I finally figured it out! In this sense, the “having” is equivalent to “keeping” or “being in possession of.”

      Examples:

      • “What’s it like having a Mercedes Benz?”
      • “The Smiths have a very nice home.”

      No eating implied!

      Therefore, the saying is more inline with “You can’t keep (to show off or admire) your cake, and eat it, too.”

    • PeterPoopshit@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      One time I baked a whole entire cake for myself. There was no occasion or anything I just wanted to have a cake and eat it too. It turns out cakes are really big and it’s really hard for a single person to eat a cake faster than it turns all spongy and icky.

    • crazystuff
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      1 year ago

      Not a native speaker, but I’m pretty sure the idea is, “you can’t eat your cake and still keep it intact”