I Think Ill Eat It Again

English language idiomatic maxim

Y'all can't have your cake and eat information technology (too) is a popular English idiomatic maxim or figure of speech.^[1] The maxim literally means "you cannot simultaneously retain your block and eat information technology". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. Information technology can exist used to say that one cannot take two incompatible things, or that one should non endeavor to have more than is reasonable. The proverb'south meaning is similar to the phrases "you tin't have it both ways" and "y'all tin't have the best of both worlds."

For those unfamiliar with it, the proverb may sound confusing due to the ambivalence of the word 'have', which tin can mean 'keep' or 'to have in one's possession', but which tin likewise be used every bit a synonym for 'swallow' (e.g. 'to have breakfast'). Some observe the mutual grade of the proverb to exist incorrect or illogical and instead prefer: "You can't eat your cake and [and so still] have information technology (too)". Indeed, this used to be the most mutual class of the expression until the 1930s–1940s, when it was overtaken by the take-eat variant.^[two] Some other, less common, version uses 'keep' instead of 'accept'.^[iii]

Choosing between having or eating a block illustrates the concept of trade-offs or opportunity cost.^{[4] [5] [half-dozen]}

History and usage [edit]

An early on recording of the phrase is in a letter on 14 March 1538 from Thomas, Knuckles of Norfolk, to Thomas Cromwell, every bit "a man can not have his cake and eat his cake".^[vii] The phrase occurs with the clauses reversed in John Heywood'due south A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue from 1546, as "wolde you bothe eate your cake, and accept your cake?".^{[8] [9]} In John Davies's Scourge of Folly of 1611, the aforementioned order is used, as "A man cannot swallow his block and haue it stil."^[10]

In Jonathan Swift'due south 1738 farce "Polite Conversation", the character Lady Answerall says "she cannot swallow her block and take her cake".^[eleven] The order was reversed in a posthumous adaptation of "Polite Conversation" in 1749 chosen "Tittle Tattle; or, Taste A-la-Mode", as "And she cannot have her Cake and eat her Cake".^{[12] [xiii] [14]} A mod-sounding variant from 1812, "We cannot accept our cake and eat it as well", tin be found in R. C. Knopf's Document Transcriptions of the War of 1812 (1959).^[15]

According to Google Ngram Viewer, a search engine that charts the frequencies of phrases throughout the decades, the eat-accept order used to be the well-nigh common variant (at least in written form) before being surpassed past the take-eat version in the 1930s and 40s.^[2]

In 1996, the eat-accept variant played a office in the apprehension of the Unabomber, whose real name is Ted Kaczynski. In his manifesto, which the terrorist sent to newspapers in the wake of his bombings, Kaczynski advocated the undoing of the industrial revolution, writing: "As for the negative consequences of eliminating industrial gild — well, you tin can't eat your cake and have information technology too." James R. Fitzgerald, an FBI forensic linguist, noted this (then) uncommon variant of the proverb and afterwards discovered that Kaczynski had too used it in a letter of the alphabet to his mother. This, amid other clues, led to his identification and arrest.^{[sixteen] [17] [xviii]}

In her 2002 volume, classicist Katharina Volk of Columbia University used the phrase to describe the development of poetic imagery in didactic Latin verse, naming the principle behind the imagery'south adoption and application the "have-one's-cake-and-eat-it-also principle".^[nineteen]

Logicality [edit]

The proverb, while commonly used, is at times questioned by people who experience the expression to be illogical or incorrect. As comedian Billy Connolly once put it: "What skilful is [having] a block if y'all can't eat it?"^[20] According to Paul Brians, Professor of English at Washington Country Academy, the confusion nearly the idiom stems from the verb to accept, which tin refer to possessing, but as well to eating, e.yard. "Let's have breakfast" or "I'thou having a sandwich". Brians argues that "You can't eat your cake and have information technology as well" is a more logical variant than "You can't have your cake and eat it too", because the verb-order of "eat-have" makes more sense: once y'all've eaten your cake, you don't take it anymore.^[21]

Ben Zimmer, writing for the Language Log of the Academy of Pennsylvania, states that the interpretation of the two variants relies on the assumption of either sequentiality or simultaneity. If ane believes the phrase to imply sequentiality, then the "consume-have" variant could be seen equally a more than logical form: you cannot consume your cake and and then (withal) have it, but you really tin can have your cake and then eat it. The onetime phrase would demonstrate an impossibility ameliorate, while the latter phrase is more of a statement of fact, arguably making it less suitable as an idiomatic saying. However, if one believes the "and" conjoining the verbs to imply simultaneity of action rather than sequentiality of action, then both versions are usable as an idiom, because "cake-eating and cake-having are mutually exclusive activities, regardless of the syntactic ordering", Zimmer writes.^[eighteen]

In response, Richard Mason disagreed with Zimmer's assertion on the mutually exclusiveness of the two actions: "simultaneous cake-having and cake-eating are NOT mutually exclusive. On the contrary, generally I cannot eat something at whatever time when I exercise not have it. But I eat things when I have them all the fourth dimension. Simply when the object is entirely consumed do I no longer have information technology (and at that time the eating is likewise terminated)." Therefore, Stonemason considers the "take-eat" variant to be "logically indefensible".^[22] Zimmer reacted to Mason by stating: "the 'having' part of the idiom seems to me to imply possession over a long menstruum of time, rather than the transient cake-having that occurs during cake-eating". He concludes that it is ultimately not relevant to ponder over the logicality of crystallized, commonly used phrases. "Few people protest the expression head over heels to mean 'topsy-turvy,' despite the fact that its "literal" reading describes a normal, non-topsy-turvy actual alignment".^[18]

Stan Carey, writing for the Macmillan Dictionary Web log, likens the "have-swallow" vs. "eat-have" question with the give-and-take over "I could care less" and "I couldn't intendance less", two phrases that are used to refer to the aforementioned thing all the same are construed differently, with the former sounding illogical because saying "I could care less" would mean that y'all actually do care to some caste. Carey writes that even though the "eat-accept" form of the block-proverb might make more sense, "idioms practise non hinge on logic, and expecting them to make literal sense is futile. But it tin can exist hard to ward off the instinctive wish that language align improve with common sense." Carey jokingly states that the cake-idiom actually does have its block and eats it.^[23]

In other languages [edit]

Various expressions are used to convey similar idioms in other languages:

• Albanian: Të hysh në ujë due east të mos lagesh. – To take a swim and non get moisture.
• Armenian: Գելը կուշտ, ոչխարները՝ տեղը: – Have the wolf total and the sheep in place. Երկու երնեկ մի տեղ չի լինում - Two good things do non happen together. Մի տոմսով երկու թատրոն - I ticket for 2 theatrical performances (This idiom is also used for a situation of an undesired scandalous outcome of an action). Գետը մտնես՝ չոր էլնես - Get into a river and stay dry out. And a vulgar version: Համ բանը տեղը լինի, համ չբեր լինի: - Her to be sexually active but sterile.
• Azerbaijani: Nə yardan doyur, nə əldən qoyur. – 1 who neither agrees, nor disagrees. (literal translation: Neither loves their lover enough, nor lets them go.) ^[24]
• Bulgarian: Не може и вълкът да е сит, и агнето цяло. – You can't have both the wolf fed, and the lamb intact. A more vulgar version is: Не може хем душата в рая, хем кура в гъза. – You tin can't have both the dick in the donkey and the soul in heaven.^[25] This phrase is similar to the Romanian expression below.
• Simplified Chinese: 鱼与熊掌，不可兼得。; traditional Chinese: 魚與熊掌，不可兼得。 – You can't have both the fish and the bear's hand. (Bear's paw is considered a delicacy in ancient Prc.)
• Czech: Nejde sedět zadkem na dvou židlích – Yous tin can't sit on 2 chairs at the same time. Also, Vlk se nažral a koza zůstala celá. – The wolf ate and the goat remained whole.
• Danish: Man kan ikke både blæse og have mel i munden – Yous cannot both blow and have flour in your oral cavity. Besides, Man kan ikke få både i pose og (i) sæk - You can't get both in purse and (in) sack.
• Dutch: At that place is no verbal equivalent of this saying in the Dutch language, but a similar phrase is Kiezen of delen – Choose or divide. Some other similar saying is Van twee walletjes eten – "Eating from two banks [of the ditch]", a pejorative maxim which means that someone joins two opposing parties and tries to benefit from the state of affairs in a manipulative or opportunistic fashion.^[26] A less derogatory expression is De kool en de geit sparen – To relieve both the cabbage and the goat: attempting to satisfy conflicting demands of 2 parties, while not trying to offend either.^[27] Another one is: Je kunt je geld maar één keer uitgeven – "You tin can spend your money only one time".
• Finnish: Kakkuja ei voi sekä syödä että säästää. – Cakes can not be both eaten and stored (at the same fourth dimension).
• French: Vouloir le beurre et 50'silvery du beurre – To want the butter and the money used to purchase the butter. This proverb can be emphasized by adding et le sourire de la crémière ("and a grinning from the [female] milkmaid") or, in a more familiar version, et le cul de la crémière ("and the [female] milkmaid's butt").
• German: Wasch mir den Pelz, aber mach mich nicht nass – Launder my fur but don't become me wet.^{[28] [29]} Also, Man kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen – 1 cannot dance at two weddings (at the aforementioned time).^{[xxx] [31]}
  • Swiss German: Du chasch nit dr Füfer und s Weggli ha – You can't have the five cent coin and a bread scroll.
• Greek: Και την πίτα ολόκληρη και τον σκύλο χορτάτο – You desire the unabridged pie and the dog total.
• Gujarati: બે હાથમાં લાડુ હોવા – To have a laddu (a sweet candy) in both of your hands.
• Hebrew: אי אפשר לאכול את העוגה ולהשאיר אותה שלמה – You can't eat the block and proceed it whole. Also, אי אפשר להחזיק את המקל משני הקצוות – It is impossible to agree the stick from both ends.
• Hindi: दोनों हाथ में लड्डू होना – To accept a laddu (a sweetness candy) in both of your hands. Too, चित भी मेरी पट भी मेरी. – Heads are mine and tails are mine too.
• Hungarian: Olyan nincs, hogy a kecske is jóllakjon, és a káposzta is megmaradjon – It is impossible to feed the goat but keep the cabbage. Besides, Egy fenékkel nem lehet két lovat megülni – You tin can't ride ii horses with one backside. Also, Nem lehet egyszerre házaséletet is élni és szűznek is maradni. – You lot can't consummate the marriage however still remain a virgin.
• Icelandic: Það er ekki hægt að bæði halda og sleppa – You tin can't take and have not at the same fourth dimension. Also, Bágt er að blása og hafa mjöl í munni. – You cannot both blow and take flour in your mouth.
• Italian: Volere la botte piena due east la moglie ubriaca – To desire the barrel total (of wine) and the wife drunk.
• Japanese: 二兎を追う者は一兎をも得ず. – If yous chase two rabbits at the same time, you will not catch either.
• Kannada: ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಆಸೆ, ನೆಂಟರ ಮೇಲೆ ಪ್ರೀತಿ – Desire over rice, dear over relatives.
• Korean: 토끼 둘을 잡으려다가 하나도 못 잡는다. – If you effort to catch two rabbits, you lot volition end up getting none.
• Malayalam: കക്ഷത്തിലുള്ളത് പോകാനും പാടില്ല ഉത്തരത്തിലുള്ളത് വേണം താനും! – You desire both the 1 on the roof, and the ane in your armpit.
• Nepali: दुवै हातमा लड्डु – To have a laddu (a sweet candy) in both of your hands.
• Norwegian: Man kan ikke få både i pose og sekk – You can't get both in bag and sack.
• Papiamento: In that location is no equivalent of this proverb in Papiamento, but a similar phrase is: Skohe of lag'i skohe – Choose or allow choose.
• Pashto: Dawara ghaaray ma wahaa – You can not be on both sides.
• Persian: هم خدا را خواستن و هم خرما را – Wanting both God and the dates.
• Smoothen: Zjeść ciastko i mieć ciastko – To eat the cookie and accept the cookie.
• Portuguese: Querer ter sol na eira e chuva no nabal – Wanting the dominicus to shine on the threshing floor, while information technology rains on the turnip field.
  • Brazil: Assobiar e chupar cana - Wanting to whistle and suck on sugar pikestaff (at the aforementioned time).
• Romanaian: Nu poți împăca și capra și varza – Yous tin't reconcile the goat and the cabbage. Too, Și cu tigaia unsă și cu slănina în pod – To take the pan greased and the lard in the attic. A more vulgar version is: Şi cu dânsa-intr-însa, şi cu sufletu-n rai – To have 'information technology' in 'information technology' and the soul in heaven.
• Russian: И рыбку съесть, и в воду не лезть – Wanting to consume a fish without first catching information technology from the waters. This is a euphemism for a mutual vulgar expression и рыбку съесть, и на хуй сесть – Wanting to both swallow a fish and to sit on a dick. This phrase was first used by Alexander Pushkin in a private letter.
• Serbo-Croation: Imati i jare i pare, Имати и јаре и паре – To have both lamb and coin. Also, I ovce i novce, И овце и новце - Both the sheep and the money. As well, I vuk sit i ovce na broju, И вук сит и овце на броју – The wolf is full, and the sheep are all accounted for.
• Castilian: Querer estar en misa y en procesión – Wishing to be both at mass and in the procession. Also, Estar en misa y repicando (or Estar en misa y tocar la campana) – To be both at mass and in the bell tower, ringing the bells.
  • An alternative idiom in Castilian would exist No se puede estar al plato y a las tajadas - You can't pay attending to the plate and to the slices.
  • Argentina: La chancha y los veinte. – The sus scrofa and the twenties. This comes from the old piggy banks for children that used to contain coins of 20 cents. The only style to get the coins was to pause the piggy bank open – hence the phrase. This tin can exist emphasized by calculation y la máquina de hacer chorizos – and the car to make sausage.
• Swedish: Att äta kakan och ha den kvar. – To eat the block and withal have information technology.
• Tamil: மீசைக்கும் ஆசை கூழுக்கும் ஆசை – Desire to have both the moustache and to drink the porridge.
• Telugu: అమ్మ కావాలి బువ్వ కావాలి అంటే సాధ్యం కాదు – Y'all cannot have both mother and food. (Traditionally, the mother prepares the food in the household.)
• Tigrinya: ሰብኣይን ደሊኽን ፣ ጭሕምን ፀሊእኽን ። – You (a lady) wanted a man, merely you lot hate the beard.
• Turkish: Ne yardan geçer, ne serden. – Neither giving upwards 1's lover nor one'southward self.
• Urdu: ایک ٹکٹ میں دو مزے لینآ – Excerpt double privilege from a unmarried ticket. Also, دو کشتی کا سوار کہیں نہیں جاتا - The rider of two ships doesn't get anywhere.
• Ukrainian: На двох стільцях не всидиш – You can't sit on ii chairs.
• Vietnamese: Được cái này mất cái kia. – You gain one thing but lose the other.
• Welsh: Allwch chi mo'i chael howdy bob ffordd. – Y'all can't have it all means. Also, Allwch chi ddim cadw torth a'i bwyta hi – You tin can't go on a loaf and consume it.^[32]
• Yoruba: Enikan ki je meji laba alade – Y'all can't eat twice at the same fourth dimension. Besides, Óó pé láyé, ojú re ò nìí ribi, òkan lóó fowó mú – You can't live long, and don't desire to witness bad occurrence. You've got to cull one.^[33]

References [edit]

1. ^ "Definition of cake in English". Oxford Dictionaries.
2. ^ ^{a b} Google Ngram graphs of "my cake", "your block", "his block", "her cake", "our block", and "their cake".
3. ^ Google Ngram graph of swallow-accept, have-eat, keep-consume, and eat-continue variants.
4. ^ Fitzpatrick, John R (fifteen June 2006). John Stuart Factory's Political Philosophy: Balancing Liberty and the Collective Good. p. 154. ISBN9781847143440.
5. ^ Fullbrook, Edward (21 October 2008). Ontology and Economics: Tony Lawson and His Critics. p. 17. ISBN9780203888773.
6. ^ Suits, Daniel Burbidge (1973). Principles of economic science. p. 49. ISBN9780060465285.
7. ^ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1: Jan-July 1538 (p. 189 ref. 504). British History Online. Institute of Historical Research.
8. ^ Heywood, John (1546). A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue.
9. ^ "block". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating establishment membership required.)
10. ^ Shapiro, Fred R (2006). The Yale Book of Quotations . Yale University Press. p. 614. ISBN9780300107982. "A man cannot consume his cake and haue it stil.".
11. ^ Swift, Jonathan (1841). The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: Containing interesting and valuable papers.
12. ^ Timothy Fribble (Pseud.), Jonathan Swift (1749). Tittle Tattle.
13. ^ Zimmer, Ben (18 Feb 2011). "Accept Your Cake and Swallow It Besides". The New York Times.
14. ^ Perry, Toni (14 Apr 2011). "Eat/Have, Accept/Eat Your Block!". ABLE Innovations Web log. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015.
15. ^ Speake, Jennifer (2008). A Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199539536.
16. ^ Fitzgerald, James R. (2004). "Chapter fourteen: Using a Forensic Linguistic Approach to Rail the Unabomber". In Campbell, John H.; DeNevi, Don (eds.). Profilers: Leading Investigators Take You Inside The Criminal Mind. Prometheus Books. pp. 205–206. ISBN9781591022664.
17. ^ Geracimos, Ann (12 January 2006). "CSI: Linguistic communication analysis unit". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 17 January 2006.
18. ^ ^{a b c} Zimmer, Benjamin (14 January 2006). "Language Log: Forensic linguistics, the Unabomber, and the etymological fallacy". Language Log. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019.
19. ^ Volk, Katharina (2002). The Poetics of Latin Didactic. Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius. Oxford Academy Press. ISBN0-19-924550-ix. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018.
20. ^ Connolly, Billy. "Billy Connolly's 14 things I hate most everybody". Owens World. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018.
21. ^ Brians, Paul (19 May 2016). "Common Errors in English: Eat Block". Washington State University. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019.
22. ^ Stonemason, Richard (20 January 2006). "Comment on Having Your Block and Eating It Also". Tales of the Golem; or, the Mod Epimetheus. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019.
23. ^ Carey, Stan (xxx September 2013). "An idiom that has its cake and eats it". Macmillan Lexicon Web log. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016.
24. ^ "Nə yardan doyur, nə əldən qoyur". www.azleks.az AzLeks (in Azerbaijani).
25. ^ "хем душата в рая, хем кура в гъза | bgjargon.com - речника на улицата". BG Jargon (in Bulgarian). 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017.
26. ^ "Van twee walletjes eten". Onze Taal (in Dutch). eleven May 2011.
27. ^ "De kool en de geit sparen". Onze Taal (in Dutch). 8 April 2011.
28. ^ "Wasch mir den Pelz, aber mach mich nicht nass". dict.cc Wörterbuch (in German).
29. ^ "Wasch mir den Pelz aber mach mich nicht nass". Redensarten-Index.de (in German).
30. ^ "Man kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen". dict.cc Wörterbuch (in German).
31. ^ "Human kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen". Redensarten-Index.de (in German).
32. ^ Griffiths, Bruce; Jones, Dafydd Glyn (1995). Geiriadur yr Academi: The Welsh Academy English–Welsh Dictionary (in Welsh). Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press. p. 191. ISBN9780708311868.
33. ^ Bello-Olówóòkéré, G.A.B. (2004). Ẹgbẹ̀rún ìjìnlẹ̀ òwe Yorùbá : àti ìtumọ̀ wọn ní èdè gẹ̀ẹ́sì [yard Yoruba proverbs and their translations in English]. Lagos, Nigeria: Concept Publication. ISBN9789788065203. OCLC 607738697.

External links [edit]

• The dictionary definition of take one's cake and eat information technology too at Wiktionary
• Post at "The Phrase Finder", quoting Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New and The Random House Lexicon of Popular Proverbs and Sayings.

wilsonjuspencesses.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_can%27t_have_your_cake_and_eat_it

Share this post