Clichés

There are all kinds of clichés in the English language that, quite frankly, don't make any sense. In conversation last week, a friend remarked about someone, "Well, I guess she wants to have her cake and eat it, too...you know, that cliché doesn't make a lot of sense."

 "No, it doesn't," I agreed. "I mean, if you have your cake of course you're going to eat it."

Unless, perhaps, it's chocolate which I don't particularly like. I'll probably try to give that one away...

Of course, if you want to know something today you just pull up Google and find your answer. So, that's what we did. And the answer to "have your cake and eat it, too?"? Well, apparently, it's backwards.

When the cliché originally came into the English language hundreds of years ago, it was actually, "You can't have your cake and eat it, too." Which makes a lot more sense. For you can't both have a cake and have eaten it. (Unless you count that you have it digesting in your stomach.) And that is what we mean when we say that cliché: you can't have both of whatever it is you want - you have to pick one or another.

 I think I shall try to make a concerted effort to correct my English and now say, "Well, you can't eat your cake and have it, too." In all likelihood, the person I say this to will reply, "That's not how that goes." And, because I can be a smart alleck, I will then share my wisdom with one who, obviously, is not quite so wise.

 But I might just change the cliché totally. Because the English-speaking world does not have the market cornered on this phrase. It seems that most languages have a similar cliché, using different items to make the point of our inability have two things at once. My two personal favorites are:

 Dutch: "You can't have flour in your mouth and blow."

 Italian: "You can't have a casket full of wine and your wife drunk."

 I have to admit the latter makes me wonder... If I feel really smart-allecky, I might use that one. Just to see what kind of looks I get!