You can't have your cake and eat it!

Posted by Solaris on December 02, 2004

This one has always baffled me, we may know what it's intended meaning is, but it certainly doesn't carry any logic, what else is a cake for, apart from eating? It has no other purpose except to be eaten & enjoyed, therefore the logic would dictate that the phrase meant something like; "I am going to taunt you with something you want but not let you have any" yet it's use has another meaning.

There might be some logic in the historic source, Anyone know where it came from?

• You can't have your cake and eat it! ESC 02/December/04