It’s a reference to a very pretty cake. They want to keep the cake on display. But that means they can’t eat it, because eating it would destroy the art. They also want to eat it, because it’s cake. They want to have their cake and eat it too.
Comment on Good point
creation7758@lemmy.ml 3 months agoI’ve always hated this analogy. Why can’t I buy a cake and eat it?
PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 3 months ago
rambling_lunatic@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
You can either possess a cake or consume it. Consuming the pastry means you no longer have it.
zibzanna@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I cannot believe I spent my whole life not grasping this phrase. Thank you. I’m embarrassed how much my mind just expanded.
frunch@lemmy.world 3 months ago
There are a lot of clichés that may not make a lot of sense at face value. I’ve found some actually go a lot deeper than you expect, or may actually apply on multiple levels. Common wisdom often hits harder than I initially realized as I’ve gotten older…
The_Terrible_Humbaba@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
I’ve only had this phrase explained to me recently, and since then I can’t help but think it would make more sense if it was told the other way around; such as “you can’t eat your cake and have it too”.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Or if it had originally been rendered as, “you can’t keep your cake and eat it, too!”
Amanduh@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Six in one half dozen in the other
rambling_lunatic@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
No problem, chief 👍
GladiusB@lemmy.world 3 months ago
The problem is, that is the cake’s sole purpose. If it isn’t consumed it doesn’t mature and yield more cake. The analogy is a well known idiom, but it sounds a bit short when you think about it.
rautapekoni@sopuli.xyz 3 months ago
I think it’s more about restraint versus instant gratification. When people have called it’s usually meant to be shared in some kind of party, so if you go ahead and eat the cake alone you miss out on the sharing which could be said to be the cakes original purpose.