What does it mean?

[Unregistered]

What does the saying "YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO" mean??

Thanks!

 

[Amigos4]

What does the saying "YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO" mean??

Thanks!

From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman:
"You can't have your cake and eat it too -- One can't use something up and still have it to enjoy.

Cheers,
Amigos4

 

[Anglika]

If you think about it, you can have a cake sitting on the plate, but if you eat the cake you no longer have a cake. So you can't both have your cake and eat your cake.

It is saying you want everything your way, especially when your wishes are contradictory.

 

[whitemoon]

If you think about it, you can have a cake sitting on the plate, but if you eat the cake you no longer have a cake. So you can't both have your cake and eat your cake.

It is saying you want everything your way, especially when your wishes are contradictory.

What does sitting mean?
Can I write without sitting "you can have a cake on the plate"?
If I can, does the meaning change?
Thanks a lot.

 

[Anglika]

The cake is sitting [has been placed] on the plate.

Yes, you can just say I have a cake on the plate.

 

[Jerry97]

"You can't have your cake and eat it too" is a mangled version of the great English proverb that went something like, "Would ye both eat your cake and have your cake?". John Keats then perfected it in one of his poems, saying ... "You cannot eat your cake and have it too". ............ Now that "eat" & "have" have been reversed, it's nonsensical and I don't blame comedians like George Carlin for ridiculing it in their shticks.

There ought to be a law! :-(

 

[Anglika]

I am interested as to why you feel the accepted and generally used form is nonsensical. Both ways mean the same.

 

[heidita]

I have reread it several times and see no difference either. Do explain, Jerry.

cheers

 

[Jerry97]

There are many people who feel as I do, that the phrase "You can't have your cake and eat it too" is nonsensical. Including my English language guru, Paul Brians. Look:

https://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/eatcake.html

Excerpt:
The original and only sensible version of this saying is “You can’t eat your cake and have it too,” meaning that if you eat your cake you won’t have it any more. People get confused because we use the expression “have some cake” to mean “eat some cake,” and they therefore misunderstand what “have” means in this expression.

 

[Anglika]

Still don't see any difference.