What does it actually mean "Have you cake and eat it too?"?

Question

I never understood this statement when people say: "You have your cake and eat it too." If you have your cake, aren't you going to eat it?

Answer 1

Its a slogan we use usually when we are in a heated argument or explaining life. For instance if your boyfriend is cheating on you, you gone let him know that if he wants to be with someone else you are leaving because he not gone have his cake and eat it too. He's not gone have her and you still there also. I have always heard it in arguments. I hope that helps.

Answer 2

Yet another reader-submitted riddle worthy of the Sphinx. As comedian George Carlin once quipped, what's the point of cake you can't eat? Indeed, the paradox leaves us equally flummoxed. So instead of pondering why a person would possess pastries they choose not to enjoy, we sought out the phrase's less-literal meaning.
The always reliable Phrase Finder explains the origin. A dramatist named John Heywood was the first to use it, at least in the written form. The expression appears in his "A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue," a page-turner from the year 1546. (Please note the fancy Middle English spelling.) Originally, the saying went, "Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?"

Before you answer that question by chowing down, let us explain what Mr. Heywood meant. Basically, he was saying sometimes you have to make a decision and live with the consequences. To "eat your cake and have it too" (the original expression) means you want it both ways. If you eat your cake, you no longer have your cake, because (duh) you already ate it. Hope it tasted good

Answer 3

Well, let me just say, it would be more accurate if the phrase was "You want to eat your cake and have it too". The phrase tries to point out that sometimes you can't have everything you want because one thing precludes the other. You will not posses the cake anymore because you have already eaten it. Here is an example; if a man is married and cheating on his wife, it could be considered having his cake and eating it too because he is getting 2 good things- and he shouldn't be having at least 1 of them.

Answer 4

I think the confusion is because you've heard the expression messed up. Some people say things so often, they don't bother to listen if they're making sense anymore.

The precise expression is "You CAN'T have your cake and eat it too".

Makes more sense, right? Either you have a cake or not (because you chose to eat it)

Answer 5

The things people want are often incompatible. This proverb is easier to grasp if it is understood to mean “You can’t eat your cake and have it too.”

Answer 6

it means you get the best of both worlds you get to have your cake and eat it too

Answer 7

first off the statement is "you CAN'T have your cake and eat it too". here is an example say you sold your car now u can't might want your car but u sold it so u can't get it back. u can't have your cake and eat it too. if u eat it ure not gonna get it back

Answer 8

Think about it for a minute. You cannot eat your cake and keep it too!!!!!! For example: I cannot be engaged to someone and yet date others.........There is no such thing as kinda pregnant-you either are or aren't............LOL

Answer 9

It means that you get what you want and everything that goes with it. In some cases that just isn't possible and thats what the saying means.

Answer 10

it means having the best of everything. Kinda like sitting on both sides of the fence.