Poll: Which do you think is right?

[sms_117b]

There is a oldish saying:

"To eat your cake and have it" - where in you are getting the best of both worlds, your are eating your delicious cake and have it again to eat later, which is impossible.

However more and more I hear:

"To have your cake and eat it" - which is just common sense, I mean, if I have cake I'm going to eat it

So which do you all think is right as a saying?

 

[Mr. Squirrel]

Have cake and eat it, because I really like cake.

 

[Chickenlittle]

I believe in the second statement. Far as I know, it is not possible to eat your cake and have it, barring that you own the cake by eating it, and nobody else from that moment can have it but you.

 

[sms_117b]

I believe in the second statement. Far as I know, it is not possible to eat your cake and have it, barring that you own the cake by eating it, and nobody else from that moment can have it but you.

But that's the point of the statement, as I believe, it's supposed to be a "you can't have the best of both worlds" statement

 

[Say Anything]

If I had to choose from this list, #2 is the only one that makes sense to me.

But, my motto is, I'll have my cake and eat your's, too.

 

[Limasol]

The point of the saying is that the person your describing is trying to do more than is possible, hence the first statement is the one that should be used.

Then again, now i think about it either makes sense in that context, just because the have comes first doesn't mean anything. Both statements say that you can make one cake into two and do both with it, which is impossible, but thats the point.

 

[The Lawn]

Technically you still have the cake if you eat it.

So both could be true.

 

[Iron Mal]

Granted, the first does make more sense in terms of the meaning of the phrase but the first one sounds grammatically incorrect.

 

[Clemenstation]

Have cake and eat it too. That's the way I've always known it.

Although I have to admit, the other way DOES seem to better convey the point.

Curses!

 

[Nexus424]

If I had to choose from this list, #2 is the only one that makes sense to me.

But, my motto is, I'll have my cake and eat your's, too.

And that's a motto I can get behind as long as it isn't my cake.

Me personally i have heard each statement used and and verified as truth. So i have to take the both as long as you know what you are saying when you use it

 

[darkless]

"To eat youre cake and have it" because surely there is nothing stopping me from eatting my cake when i have it.

 

[Silver Patriot]

I have never heard the first saying before. Was the second saying a mistranslation of the first saying?

Personally the First saying makes more sense to me. The second one is common sense and I don't think you would ever have to tell anyone that. (Unless the collected cakes or something)

In any case it dosen't change the fact that the cake is a lie.

 

[ffxfriek]

Have cake and eat it, because I really like cake.

chocolate cake

 

[Mr. Squirrel]

Have cake and eat it, because I really like cake.

chocolate cake

Especially chocalate cake indeed.

 

[sms_117b]

Now, in my usual "you're arguing with me and I'm right fashion"

"You can't have your cake and eat it to!
The phrase?s earliest recording is from 1546 as ?wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?? (John Heywood?s ?A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue?)[1] alluding to the impossibility of eating your cake and still having it afterwards; the modern version (where the clauses are reversed) is a corruption which was first signaled in 1812."

http://edubuzz.org/blogs/donsblog/2008/10/05/you-cant-have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too/

So I have to admit my original statements aren't quite correct either

 

[Vlane]

Aren't both options true?

 

[Limasol]

"You can't have your cake and eat it to! <--have first, eat second

"wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?" <--eat first, have second, thats the crucial difference we are discussing here.

the "too" at the end is crucial as well because if you have it there either arrangement means trying to do both things to one cake.

 

[sms_117b]

Aren't both options true?

Apparently so, although the second is a "corruption" of the original saying

However I'm not changing the poll options, I've made my bed and I'm not messing it up

 

[Washboard]

There is a oldish saying:

"To eat your cake and have it" - where in you are getting the best of both worlds, your are eating your delicious cake and have it again to eat later, which is impossible.

However more and more I hear:

"To have your cake and eat it" - which is just common sense, I mean, if I have cake I'm going to eat it

So which do you all think is right as a saying?

Are you sure that the first isnt just a literal translation?

 

[sms_117b]

Are you sure that the first isnt just a literal translation?

upon further reading the man that supposedly came up with the saying was English, no translation required.

If only I put this much effort into revision for upcoming University exams....