It means you must make a choice, even if it is difficult. Say you've been served a piece of your favorite food. You can keep it, stare at it, put it in the freezer, whatever--or you can eat it. But once you've eaten it, you can't keep it anymore--it's gone. But if you keep it, you can't eat it. Assuming she's not talking about actual food, she's asking you to give up something. For example, I can't have an exclusive relationship with my wife and date someone on the weekends.
"You cannot have your cake and eat it too" means that you can't have something both ways. The phrase was originally worded "You can't eat your cake and have it too." For example, if you have a piece of cake you can't eat it and still have it at the same time.
Reverse it. You can't have your cake and eat it too, -or- you can have your cake and eat it too, whichever fits the situation.
ANSWER: Most people reverse this saying when using it. "You can't have your cake and eat it too." But this is false. The only way anyone can eat their cake is by having it, and so everybody who eats cake has their cake and eats it to. The way you phrased it, is of course, correct. The false assertion does not fit any situation. Your assertion fits those situations where people regret their decisions and actions and pine for a return to the way things were.
I read it first in William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair.
An early reference suggests it was used in a letter from the Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell in 1538. There are similar phrases in many other world languages
This is an old English saying, first recorded in 1546 as "wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?"
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You can't have your cake and eat it too. Meaning, you just can't have your cake AND eat it too. Also, you can't eat your cake and have it too. Hope this helps!
It means you can't have the best of both worlds.
The phrase 'you can't have your cake and eat it too' is of English origin.
The correct phrase here is that "you cannot have your cake and eat it, too".
So that they can eat it later.
Have your cake and eat it too.
You were probably referring to the saying "you can't have cake and eat it too" meaning one cannot have more than one deserves or can handle at one time.
The expression, 'You can't have your cake and eat it too.' means that if you want to eat your cake, you will no longer have it. It's usually used to admonish someone who is fretting because they can't have everything they want.
yes, but you can't eat it too.
If you have half of something and you eat that half you have none; don't forget, "You can't have your cake and eat it too."
Eat it too-meaning have it all. It's an expression.
i think you got the saying wrong. It is the punch line of a joke. A play on words for the phrase "You can't have your cake and eat it".
You can't have your cake and eat it too.
you eat cake
It depends on what type of cake, where you got it, was it meant for you? Would someone else benefit from eating the cake? If you find yourself having your cake and eating it too, you may be taking advantage of someone else, this can have negative consequences for you in the future. The only way to have your cake and eat it too is to share some of it with whom ever is relevant to the cake. That way they get cake and you have obtained your objective without taking advantage or being selfish. D.J. Newville