Baby Fed on Both Sides and Still Seems Hungry

English idiomatic proverb

Yous can't take your cake and eat it (too) is a pop English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech.^[1] The saying literally means "you cannot simultaneously retain your cake and swallow information technology". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. Information technology can be used to say that 1 cannot have 2 incompatible things, or that ane should not try to have more than is reasonable. The maxim's meaning is similar to the phrases "yous can't take information technology both ways" and "you tin't have the best of both worlds."

For those unfamiliar with information technology, the saying may sound confusing due to the ambiguity of the word 'accept', which tin can mean 'go along' or 'to take in one's possession', merely which tin also exist used as a synonym for 'swallow' (e.one thousand. 'to have breakfast'). Some observe the common grade of the proverb to exist incorrect or illogical and instead prefer: "Y'all tin't eat your cake and [and so still] have information technology (also)". Indeed, this used to be the most mutual form of the expression until the 1930s–1940s, when it was overtaken past the have-eat variant.^[2] Another, less mutual, version uses 'keep' instead of 'have'.^[3]

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

History and usage [edit]

An early recording of the phrase is in a alphabetic character on fourteen March 1538 from Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, to Thomas Cromwell, as "a human being can non accept his cake and consume his cake".^[7] The phrase occurs with the clauses reversed in John Heywood's 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 have your cake?".^{[eight] [9]} In John Davies's Scourge of Folly of 1611, the same order is used, as "A human being cannot eat his cake and haue it stil."^[ten]

In Jonathan Swift's 1738 farce "Polite Chat", the character Lady Answerall says "she cannot eat her block and accept her cake".^[xi] The order was reversed in a posthumous accommodation of "Polite Conversation" in 1749 called "Tittle Tattle; or, Taste A-la-Way", as "And she cannot have her Cake and eat her Cake".^{[12] [xiii] [fourteen]} A modern-sounding variant from 1812, "We cannot have our cake and eat it too", can be plant in R. C. Knopf's Document Transcriptions of the War of 1812 (1959).^[fifteen]

According to Google Ngram Viewer, a search engine that charts the frequencies of phrases throughout the decades, the eat-have order used to exist the most common variant (at least in written course) earlier being surpassed by the accept-swallow version in the 1930s and 40s.^[2]

In 1996, the eat-take variant played a role 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 guild — well, you can't eat your block and have information technology too." James R. Fitzgerald, an FBI forensic linguist, noted this (then) uncommon variant of the proverb and later discovered that Kaczynski had as well used it in a letter to his female parent. This, among other clues, led to his identification and arrest.^{[16] [17] [18]}

In her 2002 book, classicist Katharina Volk of Columbia University used the phrase to describe the development of poetic imagery in didactic Latin poetry, naming the principle behind the imagery's adoption and application the "have-one's-cake-and-consume-it-as well principle".^[19]

Logicality [edit]

The proverb, while commonly used, is at times questioned past people who experience the expression to be illogical or incorrect. As comedian Billy Connolly one time put information technology: "What good is [having] a cake if you can't eat information technology?"^[twenty] Co-ordinate to Paul Brians, Professor of English at Washington State University, the confusion about the idiom stems from the verb to have, which can refer to possessing, simply also to eating, e.g. "Let's take breakfast" or "I'm having a sandwich". Brians argues that "You can't swallow your cake and have it also" is a more logical variant than "Yous tin can't have your cake and swallow it too", considering the verb-lodge of "eat-have" makes more sense: once you lot've eaten your cake, you lot don't have information technology anymore.^[21]

Ben Zimmer, writing for the Linguistic communication Log of the University of Pennsylvania, states that the interpretation of the ii variants relies on the supposition of either sequentiality or simultaneity. If ane believes the phrase to imply sequentiality, and then the "eat-have" variant could be seen as a more logical form: y'all cannot eat your cake and then (nonetheless) have it, but y'all actually tin have your cake and and so eat information technology. The onetime phrase would demonstrate an impossibility meliorate, while the latter phrase is more than of a statement of fact, arguably making information technology less suitable as an idiomatic saying. However, if 1 believes the "and" conjoining the verbs to imply simultaneity of activity rather than sequentiality of action, then both versions are usable as an idiom, because "cake-eating and cake-having are mutually sectional activities, regardless of the syntactic ordering", Zimmer writes.^[18]

In response, Richard Bricklayer disagreed with Zimmer'southward assertion on the mutually exclusiveness of the ii actions: "simultaneous cake-having and cake-eating are Not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, generally I cannot eat something at any time when I do not accept it. But I swallow things when I have them all the time. Only when the object is entirely consumed practice I no longer have it (and at that time the eating is also terminated)." Therefore, Mason considers the "have-eat" variant to be "logically indefensible".^[22] Zimmer reacted to Mason past stating: "the 'having' part of the idiom seems to me to imply possession over a long flow of fourth dimension, rather than the transient cake-having that occurs during block-eating". He concludes that it is ultimately not relevant to ponder over the logicality of crystallized, commonly used phrases. "Few people protestation the expression head over heels to mean 'topsy-turvy,' despite the fact that its "literal" reading describes a normal, non-topsy-turvy bodily alignment".^[xviii]

Stan Carey, writing for the Macmillan Dictionary Web log, likens the "accept-eat" vs. "swallow-have" question with the discussion over "I could care less" and "I couldn't care less", 2 phrases that are used to refer to the same affair nevertheless are construed differently, with the quondam sounding illogical because maxim "I could care less" would mean that you really do care to some degree. Carey writes that even though the "swallow-take" form of the cake-maxim might make more sense, "idioms practice non hinge on logic, and expecting them to make literal sense is futile. But information technology can exist hard to ward off the instinctive wish that language align ameliorate with common sense." Carey jokingly states that the block-idiom actually does take its cake and eats it.^[23]

In other languages [edit]

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

• Albanian: Të hysh në ujë e të mos lagesh. – To take a swim and not go wet.
• Armenian: Գելը կուշտ, ոչխարները՝ տեղը: – Accept the wolf full and the sheep in place. Երկու երնեկ մի տեղ չի լինում - Two good things practise not happen together. Մի տոմսով երկու թատրոն - Ane ticket for ii theatrical performances (This idiom is also used for a situation of an undesired scandalous consequence of an action). Գետը մտնես՝ չոր էլնես - Become into a river and stay dry. And a vulgar version: Համ բանը տեղը լինի, համ չբեր լինի: - Her to be sexually active but sterile.
• Azeri: Nə yardan doyur, nə əldən qoyur. – One who neither agrees, nor disagrees. (literal translation: Neither loves their lover enough, nor lets them get.) ^[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 lot tin't accept both the dick in the ass and the soul in sky.^[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。 – Yous can't have both the fish and the bear's paw. (Bear's mitt is considered a delicacy in aboriginal China.)
• Czech: Nejde sedět zadkem na dvou židlích – You lot can't sit on two chairs at the same time. Also, Vlk se nažral a koza zůstala celá. – The wolf ate and the caprine animal remained whole.
• Danish: Man kan ikke både blæse og have mel i munden – You cannot both blow and accept flour in your mouth. Too, Man kan ikke få både i pose og (i) sæk - You tin't get both in bag and (in) sack.
• Dutch: There is no exact equivalent of this proverb in the Dutch language, simply a like phrase is Kiezen of delen – Choose or divide. Another similar proverb is Van twee walletjes eten – "Eating from two banks [of the ditch]", a pejorative saying which means that someone joins two opposing parties and tries to benefit from the situation in a manipulative or opportunistic fashion.^[26] A less derogatory expression is De kool en de geit sparen – To save both the cabbage and the caprine animal: attempting to satisfy conflicting demands of two 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 merely one time".
• Finnish: Kakkuja ei voi sekä syödä että säästää. – Cakes tin non be both eaten and stored (at the same fourth dimension).
• French: Vouloir le beurre et l'argent du beurre – To desire the butter and the money used to purchase the butter. This proverb can be emphasized by calculation et le sourire de la crémière ("and a smile 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 get me wet.^{[28] [29]} As well, Man kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen – I cannot dance at two weddings (at the same time).^{[30] [31]}
  • Swiss High german: Du chasch nit dr Füfer und s Weggli ha – You lot can't accept the five cent money and a bread roll.
• Greek: Και την πίτα ολόκληρη και τον σκύλο χορτάτο – Y'all want the entire pie and the dog full.
• 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 lot can't eat the cake and go on information technology whole. Also, אי אפשר להחזיק את המקל משני הקצוות – It is impossible to concur the stick from both ends.
• Hindi: दोनों हाथ में लड्डू होना – To have a laddu (a sweet candy) in both of your hands. Besides, 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 incommunicable to feed the goat but keep the cabbage. Also, Egy fenékkel nem lehet két lovat megülni – You can't ride two horses with one backside. As well, Nem lehet egyszerre házaséletet is élni és szűznek is maradni. – You tin't complete the marriage yet still remain a virgin.
• Icelandic: Það er ekki hægt að bæði halda og sleppa – You can't take and have not at the same time. Also, Bágt er að blása og hafa mjöl í munni. – You cannot both accident and have flour in your mouth.
• Italian: Volere la botte piena east la moglie ubriaca – To want the barrel full (of vino) and the wife drunk.
• Japanese: 二兎を追う者は一兎をも得ず. – If you chase two rabbits at the aforementioned fourth dimension, you will not take hold of either.
• Kannada: ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಆಸೆ, ನೆಂಟರ ಮೇಲೆ ಪ್ರೀತಿ – Desire over rice, love over relatives.
• Korean: 토끼 둘을 잡으려다가 하나도 못 잡는다. – If you endeavour to take hold of two rabbits, you will end up getting none.
• Malayalam: കക്ഷത്തിലുള്ളത് പോകാനും പാടില്ല ഉത്തരത്തിലുള്ളത് വേണം താനും! – You want both the 1 on the roof, and the one 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 – Yous can't get both in bag and sack.
• Papiamento: At that place is no equivalent of this proverb in Papiamento, but a like phrase is: Skohe of lag'i skohe – Choose or let choose.
• Pashto: Dawara ghaaray ma wahaa – You lot can non be on both sides.
• Persian: هم خدا را خواستن و هم خرما را – Wanting both God and the dates.
• Polish: Zjeść ciastko i mieć ciastko – To eat the cookie and have the cookie.
• Portuguese: Querer ter sol na eira e chuva no nabal – Wanting the sun to shine on the threshing flooring, while it rains on the turnip field.
  • Brazil: Assobiar due east chupar cana - Wanting to whistle and suck on sugar pikestaff (at the same fourth dimension).
• Romanaian: Nu poți împăca și capra și varza – You can't reconcile the goat and the cabbage. Likewise, Și cu tigaia unsă și cu slănina în pod – To accept the pan greased and the lard in the attic. A more than vulgar version is: Şi cu dânsa-intr-însa, şi cu sufletu-due north rai – To take 'it' in 'it' and the soul in heaven.
• Russian: И рыбку съесть, и в воду не лезть – Wanting to eat a fish without first catching it from the waters. This is a euphemism for a common vulgar expression и рыбку съесть, и на хуй сесть – Wanting to both eat a fish and to sit on a dick. This phrase was commencement used by Alexander Pushkin in a private alphabetic character.
• Serbo-Croatian: 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 coin. Also, I vuk sit i ovce na broju, И вук сит и овце на броју – The wolf is total, and the sheep are all deemed for.
• Castilian: Querer estar en misa y en procesión – Wishing to exist 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 belfry, ringing the bells.
  • An alternative idiom in Spanish would exist No se puede estar al plato y a las tajadas - You can't pay attention to the plate and to the slices.
  • Argentina: La chancha y los veinte. – The hog and the twenties. This comes from the onetime piggy banks for children that used to incorporate coins of 20 cents. The merely mode to get the coins was to break the piggy bank open – hence the phrase. This tin can be emphasized by adding y la máquina de hacer chorizos – and the machine to make sausage.
• Swedish: Att äta kakan och ha den kvar. – To eat the cake and however have it.
• Tamil: மீசைக்கும் ஆசை கூழுக்கும் ஆசை – Desire to accept both the moustache and to drink the porridge.
• Telugu: అమ్మ కావాలి బువ్వ కావాలి అంటే సాధ్యం కాదు – You lot cannot have both mother and food. (Traditionally, the mother prepares the food in the household.)
• Tigrinya: ሰብኣይን ደሊኽን ፣ ጭሕምን ፀሊእኽን ። – Yous (a lady) wanted a man, simply you hate the beard.
• Turkish: Ne yardan geçer, ne serden. – Neither giving up one's lover nor ane'south cocky.
• Urdu: ایک ٹکٹ میں دو مزے لینآ – Extract double privilege from a single 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 tin can't sit on two chairs.
• Vietnamese: Được cái này mất cái kia. – Yous proceeds one affair but lose the other.
• Welsh: Allwch chi mo'i chael hi bob ffordd. – You lot tin't have it all means. Too, Allwch chi ddim cadw torth a'i bwyta hi – You tin can't go along a loaf and eat it.^[32]
• Yoruba: Enikan ki je meji laba alade – Yous tin't consume twice at the same time. As well, 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. Y'all've got to cull one.^[33]

References [edit]

1. ^ "Definition of block in English language". Oxford Dictionaries.
2. ^ ^{a b} Google Ngram graphs of "my cake", "your cake", "his cake", "her block", "our block", and "their cake".
3. ^ Google Ngram graph of eat-accept, have-eat, keep-eat, and eat-go on variants.
4. ^ Fitzpatrick, John R (15 June 2006). John Stuart Manufacturing plant'due south Political Philosophy: Balancing Liberty and the Collective Adept. 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 economics. p. 49. ISBN9780060465285.
7. ^ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry Viii, Volume 13 Part one: January-July 1538 (p. 189 ref. 504). British History Online. Institute of Historical Enquiry.
8. ^ Heywood, John (1546). A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Event of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue.
9. ^ "block". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
10. ^ Shapiro, Fred R (2006). The Yale Book of Quotations . Yale University Press. p. 614. ISBN9780300107982. "A human cannot eat his cake and haue information technology 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 February 2011). "Have Your Cake and Eat It Likewise". The New York Times.
14. ^ Perry, Toni (14 Apr 2011). "Eat/Have, Have/Eat Your Cake!". ABLE Innovations Weblog. Archived from the original on i June 2015.
15. ^ Speake, Jennifer (2008). A Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199539536.
16. ^ Fitzgerald, James R. (2004). "Affiliate xiv: Using a Forensic Linguistic Approach to Track 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: Language analysis unit". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 17 January 2006.
18. ^ ^{a b c} Zimmer, Benjamin (fourteen January 2006). "Language Log: Forensic linguistics, the Unabomber, and the etymological fallacy". Language Log. Archived from the original on xxx April 2019.
19. ^ Volk, Katharina (2002). The Poetics of Latin Didactic. Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-nineteen-924550-9. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018.
20. ^ Connolly, Baton. "Baton Connolly's xiv things I detest about everybody". Owens World. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018.
21. ^ Brians, Paul (xix May 2016). "Mutual Errors in English: Swallow Block". Washington State University. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019.
22. ^ Mason, Richard (20 January 2006). "Annotate on Having Your Cake and Eating It Too". Tales of the Golem; or, the Mod Epimetheus. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019.
23. ^ Carey, Stan (30 September 2013). "An idiom that has its cake and eats it". Macmillan Lexicon Weblog. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016.
24. ^ "Nə yardan doyur, nə əldən qoyur". www.azleks.az AzLeks (in Azeri).
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). 11 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 being kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen". Redensarten-Index.de (in German).
32. ^ Griffiths, Bruce; Jones, Dafydd Glyn (1995). Geiriadur twelvemonth Academi: The Welsh Academy English–Welsh Dictionary (in Welsh). Cardiff, Wales: Academy of Wales Press. p. 191. ISBN9780708311868.
33. ^ Bello-Olówóòkéré, G.A.B. (2004). Ẹgbẹ̀rún ìjìnlẹ̀ òwe Yorùbá : àti ìtumọ̀ wọn ní èdè gẹ̀ẹ́sì [chiliad Yoruba proverbs and their translations in English]. Lagos, Nigeria: Concept Publication. ISBN9789788065203. OCLC 607738697.

External links [edit]

• The dictionary definition of accept i's block and eat it too at Wiktionary
• Post at "The Phrase Finder", quoting Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Fourth dimension-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New and The Random House Lexicon of Popular Proverbs and Sayings.

daughertyhoun1937.blogspot.com

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

Share this post