Much ado about nothing

[Spud]

The phrase, "you can't have your cake and eat it" has had me a bit worried for a long time. I thought it meant that you shouldn't eat cake, or that "real men don't eat cake" or something. I've just googled the meaning, and what a daft thing it is to say. If you eat your cake, you are "having" it, and if you've got enough, no doubt you don't even want any more, so why say you can't have it?

Another saying I've come across is, "never eat the last piece of cake". I think that one makes sense, though it has to be balanced with the principal of "waste not want not".

[Sebastian Toe]

The phrase, "you can't have your cake and eat it" has had me a bit worried for a long time. I thought it meant that you shouldn't eat cake, or that "real men don't eat cake" or something. I've just googled the meaning, and what a daft thing it is to say. If you eat your cake, you are "having" it, and if you've got enough, no doubt you don't even want any more, so why say you can't have it?

I think it means that you can't have (as in eat) your cake and then eat it again.
As for enough, I always think of the cake as being like a muffin sized one rather than a three tier wedding cake. That way the phrase works better!.

[Sriram]

The phrase, "you can't have your cake and eat it" has had me a bit worried for a long time. I thought it meant that you shouldn't eat cake, or that "real men don't eat cake" or something. I've just googled the meaning, and what a daft thing it is to say. If you eat your cake, you are "having" it, and if you've got enough, no doubt you don't even want any more, so why say you can't have it?

Another saying I've come across is, "never eat the last piece of cake". I think that one makes sense, though it has to be balanced with the principal of "waste not want not".

'Having the cake' here probably means ...still having it intact ...retaining it.... as in 'not consumed'.  So...you can't eat the cake and still 'have' it with you.

[Stranger]

The Oxford English Dictionary lists you can't eat your cake and have it under proverbs but just says "see quotes" - this being the most informative:

1709   Ld. Shaftesbury Sensus Communis: Ess. Freedom of Wit 95   As ridiculous as the way of Children, who first eat their Cake, and then cry for it... They shou'd be told, as Children, that They can't eat their Cake, and have it.

[Maeght]

It means you can't have everything in life, you either keep the cake or eat it but can't do both. A good proverb.

[Spud]

I think it needs to be reworded. In my mind, having your cake is eating it. There are some other versions of the same proverb in Wikipedia, some of which make better sense. Like, if you buy something, the money is gone and you can't use it to buy something else you need.

[Maeght]

I think it needs to be reworded. In my mind, having your cake is eating it. There are some other versions of the same proverb in Wikipedia, some of which make better sense. Like, if you buy something, the money is gone and you can't use it to buy something else you need.

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Nearly Sane]

Ted Kaczynski agreed.

[Maeght]

Who?