I was thinking about the phrase ‘The pot calling the kettle black’. It comes from a time where cooking was done over open fires and cookware would become visibly ashy. (Fun fact: It first appears and was perhaps coined by Cervantes in Don Quixote!)
What are some other idioms that have lost their literal connection to time? What would be a good modern replacement?
“Have your cake and eat it too” doesn’t really make sense. Cake is not rare or expensive enough that simply possessing it feels good. If you have cake, all you want is to eat it.
The italian version, “you want a full barrel and drunk wife” illustrates the same situation much more clearly.
I’m only half joking when I say this could be the modern replacement. I’ve caught both myself and the S.O. using “no take only throw” in conversation, often about unreasonably demanding people.
That’s because it’s backwards. Should be “eat your cake and have it too”
Edit: While that preserves the form and is recognizable as the common saying, it makes the meaning clearer if phrased as “Eat your cake and still have it”.
Thank you Unabomber
Ted, is that you?
Also wanting to eat your cake and have it too is supposed to imply you’re like a toddler having a tantrum because you’re just coming to terms with the rules of object permanence: a person playing peekaboo or hide-and-seek can disappear and still come back, but if you eat your cake it will be ALL GONE!!!
Mouselemming thank goodness you’re still here. I scrolled up and you disappeared for a second, I was so worried!
There’s a reason that is seen as greedy and foolish.
Even flipped, it’s still weird in English with “Having cake” meaning “Eating cake” in most contexts anyway.
Better stated as “… and still have it”, come to think of it.
this actually finally makes the phrase mean what it means without a bunch of explanation
Ted Kaczynski has entered the chat.
You cannot have a cake in your possession and also eat that cake. Once you eat it, it is gone.
I cannot possess cake without eating it
I cannot possess cake because I’m not a demon. Yet.
Technically its not gone, just inside you.
Oof ouch my bone satchel
When I was a kid, I remember asking my mom about this phrase because it made no sense to me. Why in the world would one even want a cake if they weren’t going to eat it? What is the point?! (I have always been particularly fond of cake — eating it, that is — who cares if it’s pretty if it tastes good?)
According to legend, some people have what’s called “deferred gratification”, by which they drive pleasure out of knowing that they will get to eat the cake later.
I don’t get it either. I think it’s a myth.
But maybe you will someday in the future…
But I want it now!
I was confused by this one too, but then I thought about it in the context of a wedding cake; you want to have it as a beautiful thing to show off to all of your guests, but you also want everyone to enjoy how good it tastes as a desert. You can’t have both simultaneously, so you have to pick
Just desserts is another one.