In high school, I once dated two girls at the same time. Their names were Edith and Kate. Eventually, I got caught -- which goes to prove that you can't have your Kate and Edith too.
In University, I fooled around with two girls at the same time (but not simultaneously). Their names were Rachel and Becca. What's more, they were both cool about it, and encouraged me to go for it with the other one.
I have no idea how to smell coloquialism. However, the real phrase is definitely ‘you can't eat your cake and have it too’. The phrase means, you must have either one or the other. So you actually can have your cake and eat it too. However, you cant eat your cake and have it too.
"In the English language, there is a proverb: 'You cannot have your cake and eat it too.' This saying expresses the idea that one cannot always have the best of everything and is sometimes forced to make an either/or choice. The first appearance of this saying is trace to John Heywood's A Dialogue Conteynyng Prouerbes and Epigrammes (1546): 'Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?' In the United States, it first appeared in the 1742 Colonial Records of Georgia in Original Papers, 1735-1752. In the beginning of his poem On Fame of 1816 , John Keats cites the proverb: 'You cannot eat your cake and have it too.'"
But somewhere along the line, someone switched the words around so it made less sense. I like your version better. I think of it as the "correct" version, and of the vast majority of people who say "have your cake and eat it too" as Just Plain Wrong.
oops, i meant that other reply to be to this thread...
And actually you don't even need to have your own cake to be able to eat it, you can eat someone else's cake. Not to mention that even if you have cake and don't eat it, you may not have for long, since someone else may eat it up...
what's that other colloquialism that's the wrong way around?.... head over heels? which ought to be heels over head...
Sounds like an (A && B) == (B && A) issue to me, where either way would be true.
However, if you interpret the phrase to mean that A happens before B, then they are not equal... "You can't eat (all) your cake and then (still) have it" (true) vs. "You can't have your cake and then eat it" (false).
But generally when I hear the phrase, I think of A and B occurring at the same time. So, you can have your cake and be eating it, just like you can be eating your cake and still have some of it left.
...No, wait a minute. That means both ways of saying it are false... Which means the saying doesn't mean anything logical to me at all... Silly colloquialisms...
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Date: 2003-06-04 07:52 am (UTC)Which just goes to prove
I win I win I win!!!!!!!
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Date: 2003-06-04 08:11 am (UTC)I was confused.
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Date: 2003-06-04 08:56 am (UTC)Adam
...
Date: 2003-06-04 04:22 pm (UTC)I can't remember the conversation. I swear, my memory is a blank slate each morning I wake.
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Date: 2003-06-04 08:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 08:07 am (UTC)I rarely heard "you can't eat your cake and have it too"
Maybe it's a coloquialism. Maybe I should find out how to spell coloquialism.
Adam
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Date: 2003-06-04 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 08:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 08:10 am (UTC)says you lie.
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Date: 2003-06-04 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 08:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 08:42 am (UTC);)
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Date: 2003-06-04 08:55 am (UTC)Adam
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Date: 2003-06-04 09:03 am (UTC)If it helps....
Date: 2003-06-04 02:16 pm (UTC)But somewhere along the line, someone switched the words around so it made less sense. I like your version better. I think of it as the "correct" version, and of the vast majority of people who say "have your cake and eat it too" as Just Plain Wrong.
Re: If it helps....
Date: 2003-06-04 05:46 pm (UTC)And actually you don't even need to have your own cake to be able to eat it, you can eat someone else's cake. Not to mention that even if you have cake and don't eat it, you may not have for long, since someone else may eat it up...
what's that other colloquialism that's the wrong way around?.... head over heels? which ought to be heels over head...
Re: If it helps....
Date: 2003-06-04 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 05:38 pm (UTC)However, if you interpret the phrase to mean that A happens before B, then they are not equal... "You can't eat (all) your cake and then (still) have it" (true) vs. "You can't have your cake and then eat it" (false).
But generally when I hear the phrase, I think of A and B occurring at the same time. So, you can have your cake and be eating it, just like you can be eating your cake and still have some of it left.
...No, wait a minute. That means both ways of saying it are false... Which means the saying doesn't mean anything logical to me at all... Silly colloquialisms...
no subject
Date: 2003-06-04 05:50 pm (UTC)