How Long Does It Take To Cool A Cake

English idiomatic proverb

You lot can't have your cake and swallow information technology (too) is a pop English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech.^[one] The proverb literally means "you cannot simultaneously retain your cake and eat it". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. Information technology tin can exist used to say that one cannot take ii incompatible things, or that i should non try to have more is reasonable. The saying's meaning is similar to the phrases "you can't have it both means" and "you can't have the all-time of both worlds."

For those unfamiliar with it, the proverb may sound disruptive due to the ambiguity of the word 'accept', which tin mean 'go on' or 'to take in ane'due south possession', merely which can besides exist used as a synonym for 'eat' (e.g. 'to accept breakfast'). Some find the common grade of the saying to exist incorrect or illogical and instead adopt: "Yous can't eat your cake and [then still] have information technology (too)". Indeed, this used to exist the most mutual form of the expression until the 1930s–1940s, when it was overtaken by the take-eat variant.^[two] Another, less common, version uses 'keep' instead of 'have'.^[3]

Choosing between having or eating a cake illustrates the concept of trade-offs or opportunity price.^[4] ^[5] ^[vi]

History and usage [edit]

An early recording of the phrase is in a letter of the alphabet on xiv March 1538 from Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, to Thomas Cromwell, as "a man tin can not have his block and swallow his cake".^[7] The phrase occurs with the clauses reversed in John Heywood's A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue from 1546, as "wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?".^[8] ^[ix] In John Davies's Scourge of Folly of 1611, the aforementioned order is used, as "A human cannot eat his cake and haue it stil."^[10]

In Jonathan Swift's 1738 farce "Polite Conversation", the graphic symbol Lady Answerall says "she cannot eat her cake and have her block".^[11] The lodge was reversed in a posthumous adaptation of "Polite Conversation" in 1749 called "Tittle Tattle; or, Taste A-la-Way", equally "And she cannot have her Cake and swallow her Cake".^[12] ^[13] ^[fourteen] A modern-sounding variant from 1812, "We cannot have our block and eat it besides", can be found in R. C. Knopf's Certificate Transcriptions of the State of war of 1812 (1959).^[15]

Co-ordinate to Google Ngram Viewer, a search engine that charts the frequencies of phrases throughout the decades, the consume-have order used to be the well-nigh common variant (at least in written course) before existence surpassed past the accept-eat version in the 1930s and 40s.^[2]

In 1996, the eat-have variant played a role in the apprehension of the Unabomber, whose existent name is Ted Kaczynski. In his manifesto, which the terrorist sent to newspapers in the wake of his bombings, Kaczynski advocated the undoing of the industrial revolution, writing: "Every bit for the negative consequences of eliminating industrial social club — well, you can't eat your cake and accept it too." James R. Fitzgerald, an FBI forensic linguist, noted this (so) uncommon variant of the proverb and later discovered that Kaczynski had also used information technology in a letter to his mother. This, among other clues, led to his identification and abort.^[xvi] ^[17] ^[18]

In her 2002 book, classicist Katharina Volk of Columbia University used the phrase to describe the development of poetic imagery in didactic Latin poetry, naming the principle behind the imagery's adoption and awarding the "have-one's-cake-and-eat-it-besides principle".^[19]

Logicality [edit]

The proverb, while commonly used, is at times questioned by people who experience the expression to be illogical or incorrect. Equally comedian Billy Connolly once put information technology: "What expert is [having] a cake if y'all can't eat it?"^[20] Co-ordinate to Paul Brians, Professor of English language at Washington State University, the confusion about the idiom stems from the verb to have, which can refer to possessing, but also to eating, eastward.m. "Permit'southward accept breakfast" or "I'm having a sandwich". Brians argues that "You can't consume your cake and have it also" is a more logical variant than "You can't accept your cake and eat it too", because the verb-order of "eat-accept" makes more sense: once yous've eaten your cake, you don't have it anymore.^[21]

Ben Zimmer, writing for the Language Log of the University of Pennsylvania, states that the interpretation of the 2 variants relies on the assumption of either sequentiality or simultaneity. If one believes the phrase to imply sequentiality, then the "eat-have" variant could be seen as a more logical form: you cannot eat your block and so (still) take it, but you lot actually tin can have your cake and so consume it. The former phrase would demonstrate an impossibility meliorate, while the latter phrase is more of a argument of fact, arguably making it less suitable every bit an idiomatic proverb. However, if one believes the "and" conjoining the verbs to imply simultaneity of activeness rather than sequentiality of activity, so both versions are usable as an idiom, because "cake-eating and cake-having are mutually exclusive activities, regardless of the syntactic ordering", Zimmer writes.^[18]

In response, Richard Mason disagreed with Zimmer's assertion on the mutually exclusiveness of the two deportment: "simultaneous cake-having and cake-eating are Not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, by and large I cannot eat something at any time when I do non have it. But I eat things when I have them all the time. Only when the object is entirely consumed do I no longer take it (and at that time the eating is also terminated)." Therefore, Bricklayer considers the "take-eat" variant to be "logically indefensible".^[22] Zimmer reacted to Mason by stating: "the 'having' part of the idiom seems to me to imply possession over a long flow of fourth dimension, rather than the transient block-having that occurs during block-eating". He concludes that it is ultimately not relevant to ponder over the logicality of crystallized, unremarkably used phrases. "Few people protestation the expression head over heels to hateful 'topsy-turvy,' despite the fact that its "literal" reading describes a normal, non-topsy-turvy bodily alignment".^[18]

Stan Carey, writing for the Macmillan Dictionary Blog, likens the "take-eat" vs. "eat-accept" question with the discussion over "I could care less" and "I couldn't care less", two phrases that are used to refer to the same thing nevertheless are construed differently, with the former sounding illogical considering saying "I could care less" would mean that you actually do care to some degree. Carey writes that even though the "swallow-have" grade of the cake-proverb might brand more than sense, "idioms do non hinge on logic, and expecting them to make literal sense is futile. But it can be difficult to ward off the instinctive wish that language marshal ameliorate with common sense." Carey jokingly states that the cake-idiom really does take its cake and eats it.^[23]

In other languages [edit]

Various expressions are used to convey similar idioms in other languages:

Albanian: Të hysh në ujë east të mos lagesh. – To accept a swim and non get moisture.
Armenian: Գելը կուշտ, ոչխարները՝ տեղը: – Have the wolf full and the sheep in place. Երկու երնեկ մի տեղ չի լինում - Two good things do not happen together. Մի տոմսով երկու թատրոն - 1 ticket for two theatrical performances (This idiom is also used for a state of affairs of an undesired scandalous result of an activeness). Գետը մտնես՝ չոր էլնես - Go into a river and stay dry. And a vulgar version: Համ բանը տեղը լինի, համ չբեր լինի: - Her to exist sexually active simply sterile.
Azerbaijani: Nə yardan doyur, nə əldən qoyur. – 1 who neither agrees, nor disagrees. (literal translation: Neither loves their lover enough, nor lets them go.) ^[24]
Bulgarian: Не може и вълкът да е сит, и агнето цяло. – You tin can't have both the wolf fed, and the lamb intact. A more vulgar version is: Не може хем душата в рая, хем кура в гъза. – You lot can't have both the dick in the ass and the soul in heaven.^[25] This phrase is similar to the Romanian expression below.
Simplified Chinese: 鱼与熊掌，不可兼得。; traditional Chinese: 魚與熊掌，不可兼得。 – You can't have both the fish and the carry's paw. (Conduct'south manus is considered a effeminateness in ancient China.)
Czech: Nejde sedět zadkem na dvou židlích – You can't sit down on two chairs at the same time. As well, Vlk se nažral a koza zůstala celá. – The wolf ate and the goat remained whole.
Danish: Man kan ikke både blæse og have mel i munden – Y'all cannot both blow and have flour in your mouth. Besides, Man kan ikke få både i pose og (i) sæk - You tin can't go both in bag and (in) sack.
Dutch: There is no exact equivalent of this proverb in the Dutch linguistic communication, but a similar phrase is Kiezen of delen – Cull or divide. Another similar proverb is Van twee walletjes eten – "Eating from two banks [of the ditch]", a pejorative maxim which means that someone joins two opposing parties and tries to benefit from the state of affairs in a manipulative or opportunistic fashion.^[26] A less derogatory expression is De kool en de geit sparen – To relieve both the cabbage and the goat: attempting to satisfy alien demands of two parties, while not trying to offend either.^[27] Another one is: Je kunt je geld maar één keer uitgeven – "You can spend your money only i time".
Finnish: Kakkuja ei voi sekä syödä että säästää. – Cakes can not exist both eaten and stored (at the same time).
French: Vouloir le beurre et l'silver du beurre – To want the butter and the money used to purchase the butter. This saying tin exist emphasized by adding et le sourire de la crémière ("and a grin from the [female] milkmaid") or, in a more familiar version, et le cul de la crémière ("and the [female] milkmaid'south butt").
German: Wasch mir den Pelz, aber mach mich nicht nass – Launder my fur but don't get me wet.^[28] ^[29] As well, Human being kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen – One cannot dance at two weddings (at the aforementioned time).^[30] ^[31]
- Swiss High german: Du chasch nit dr Füfer und s Weggli ha – Y'all can't take the five cent coin and a staff of life roll.
Greek: Και την πίτα ολόκληρη και τον σκύλο χορτάτο – You desire the entire pie and the dog full.
Gujarati: બે હાથમાં લાડુ હોવા – To have a laddu (a sweet candy) in both of your hands.
Hebrew: אי אפשר לאכול את העוגה ולהשאיר אותה שלמה – You lot tin can't eat the cake and keep it whole. Also, אי אפשר להחזיק את המקל משני הקצוות – It is impossible to concur the stick from both ends.
Hindi: दोनों हाथ में लड्डू होना – To take a laddu (a sweet candy) in both of your easily. Besides, चित भी मेरी पट भी मेरी. – Heads are mine and tails are mine too.
Hungarian: Olyan nincs, hogy a kecske is jóllakjon, és a káposzta is megmaradjon – It is incommunicable to feed the goat but keep the cabbage. Also, Egy fenékkel nem lehet két lovat megülni – You lot can't ride two horses with ane behind. Also, Nem lehet egyszerre házaséletet is élni és szűznek is maradni. – You can't complete the matrimony yet withal remain a virgin.
Icelandic: Það er ekki hægt að bæði halda og sleppa – Yous can't have and take not at the same time. As well, Bágt er að blása og hafa mjöl í munni. – You cannot both blow and have flour in your oral cavity.
Italian: Volere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca – To desire the butt full (of wine) and the married woman drunk.
Japanese: 二兎を追う者は一兎をも得ず. – If you hunt two rabbits at the same fourth dimension, you will non grab either.
Kannada: ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಆಸೆ, ನೆಂಟರ ಮೇಲೆ ಪ್ರೀತಿ – Desire over rice, dearest over relatives.
Korean: 토끼 둘을 잡으려다가 하나도 못 잡는다. – If you try to take hold of two rabbits, y'all will end up getting none.
Malayalam: കക്ഷത്തിലുള്ളത് പോകാനും പാടില്ല ഉത്തരത്തിലുള്ളത് വേണം താനും! – You desire both the one on the roof, and the one in your armpit.
Nepali: दुवै हातमा लड्डु – To have a laddu (a sweet candy) in both of your hands.
Norwegian: Man kan ikke få både i pose og sekk – You tin't become both in pocketbook and sack.
Papiamento: In that location is no equivalent of this proverb in Papiamento, but a similar phrase is: Skohe of lag'i skohe – Choose or let choose.
Pashto: Dawara ghaaray ma wahaa – You can non be on both sides.
Persian: هم خدا را خواستن و هم خرما را – Wanting both God and the dates.
Polish: Zjeść ciastko i mieć ciastko – To eat the cookie and accept the cookie.
Portuguese: Querer ter sol na eira e chuva no nabal – Wanting the sun to shine on the threshing floor, while information technology rains on the turnip field.
- Brazil: Assobiar east chupar cana - Wanting to whistle and suck on sugar cane (at the same fourth dimension).
Romanian: Nu poți împăca și capra și varza – Y'all tin't reconcile the caprine animal and the cabbage. Also, Și cu tigaia unsă și cu slănina în pod – To take the pan greased and the lard in the attic. A more vulgar version is: Şi cu dânsa-intr-însa, şi cu sufletu-north rai – To have 'information technology' in 'it' and the soul in heaven.
Russian: И рыбку съесть, и в воду не лезть – Wanting to swallow a fish without beginning catching information technology from the waters. This is a euphemism for a common vulgar expression и рыбку съесть, и на хуй сесть – Wanting to both eat a fish and to sit on a dick. This phrase was starting time used by Alexander Pushkin in a private letter.
Serbo-Croation: Imati i jare i pare, Имати и јаре и паре – To accept both lamb and money. Also, I ovce i novce, И овце и новце - Both the sheep and the money. Also, I vuk sit i ovce na broju, И вук сит и овце на броју – The wolf is total, and the sheep are all accounted for.
Spanish: Querer estar en misa y en procesión – Wishing to be both at mass and in the procession. Also, Estar en misa y repicando (or Estar en misa y tocar la campana) – To be both at mass and in the bong tower, ringing the bells.
- An alternative idiom in Spanish would be No se puede estar al plato y a las tajadas - You can't pay attention to the plate and to the slices.
- Argentina: La chancha y los veinte. – The pig and the twenties. This comes from the quondam piggy banks for children that used to contain coins of 20 cents. The only way to get the coins was to break the piggy depository financial institution open – hence the phrase. This tin can be emphasized by adding y la máquina de hacer chorizos – and the machine to make sausage.
Swedish: Att äta kakan och ha den kvar. – To eat the cake and still accept it.
Tamil: மீசைக்கும் ஆசை கூழுக்கும் ஆசை – Desire to have both the moustache and to beverage the porridge.
Telugu: అమ్మ కావాలి బువ్వ కావాలి అంటే సాధ్యం కాదు – You cannot have both mother and food. (Traditionally, the female parent prepares the food in the household.)
Tigrinya: ሰብኣይን ደሊኽን ፣ ጭሕምን ፀሊእኽን ። – You (a lady) wanted a homo, but you detest the beard.
Turkish: Ne yardan geçer, ne serden. – Neither giving up one's lover nor one's self.
Urdu: ایک ٹکٹ میں دو مزے لینآ – Extract double privilege from a single ticket. Also, دو کشتی کا سوار کہیں نہیں جاتا - The rider of ii ships doesn't get anywhere.
Ukrainian: На двох стільцях не всидиш – Y'all tin can't sit down on two chairs.
Vietnamese: Được cái này mất cái kia. – You lot gain 1 thing merely lose the other.
Welsh: Allwch chi mo'i chael howdy bob ffordd. – Y'all tin can't have it all ways. Also, Allwch chi ddim cadw torth a'i bwyta hi – Y'all can't keep a loaf and eat it.^[32]
Yoruba: Enikan ki je meji laba alade – You tin can't eat twice at the same time. Also, Óó pé láyé, ojú re ò nìí ribi, òkan lóó fowó mú – You tin't live long, and don't want to witness bad occurrence. You've got to cull ane.^[33]

References [edit]

^ "Definition of cake in English". Oxford Dictionaries.
^ ^a ^b Google Ngram graphs of "my cake", "your cake", "his cake", "her block", "our block", and "their cake".
^ Google Ngram graph of consume-have, accept-eat, continue-eat, and eat-proceed variants.
^ Fitzpatrick, John R (15 June 2006). John Stuart Mill'southward Political Philosophy: Balancing Liberty and the Collective Good. p. 154. ISBN9781847143440.
^ Fullbrook, Edward (21 Oct 2008). Ontology and Economics: Tony Lawson and His Critics. p. 17. ISBN9780203888773.
^ Suits, Daniel Burbidge (1973). Principles of economics. p. 49. ISBN9780060465285.
^ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1: Jan-July 1538 (p. 189 ref. 504). British History Online. Institute of Historical Inquiry.
^ Heywood, John (1546). A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue.
^ "block". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating establishment membership required.)
^ Shapiro, Fred R (2006). The Yale Volume of Quotations . Yale Academy Press. p. 614. ISBN9780300107982. "A man cannot eat his cake and haue it stil.".
^ Swift, Jonathan (1841). The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: Containing interesting and valuable papers.
^ Timothy Fribble (Pseud.), Jonathan Swift (1749). Tittle Tattle.
^ Zimmer, Ben (18 February 2011). "Accept Your Cake and Eat It Too". The New York Times.
^ Perry, Toni (xiv April 2011). "Consume/Have, Take/Eat Your Cake!". ABLE Innovations Blog. Archived from the original on ane June 2015.
^ Speake, Jennifer (2008). A Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Printing. ISBN9780199539536.
^ Fitzgerald, James R. (2004). "Chapter xiv: Using a Forensic Linguistic Arroyo to Track the Unabomber". In Campbell, John H.; DeNevi, Don (eds.). Profilers: Leading Investigators Take You Inside The Criminal Mind. Prometheus Books. pp. 205–206. ISBN9781591022664.
^ Geracimos, Ann (12 Jan 2006). "CSI: Language analysis unit". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 17 Jan 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c Zimmer, Benjamin (xiv January 2006). "Language Log: Forensic linguistics, the Unabomber, and the etymological fallacy". Linguistic communication Log. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019.
^ Volk, Katharina (2002). The Poetics of Latin Didactic. Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-924550-9. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018.
^ Connolly, Billy. "Billy Connolly's 14 things I detest about everybody". Owens Globe. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018.
^ Brians, Paul (xix May 2016). "Common Errors in English: Eat Block". Washington Country University. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019.
^ Mason, Richard (20 January 2006). "Comment on Having Your Cake and Eating Information technology Too". Tales of the Golem; or, the Modern Epimetheus. Archived from the original on viii May 2019.
^ Carey, Stan (30 September 2013). "An idiom that has its cake and eats it". Macmillan Dictionary Weblog. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016.
^ "Nə yardan doyur, nə əldən qoyur". www.azleks.az AzLeks (in Azerbaijani cluster).
^ "хем душата в рая, хем кура в гъза | bgjargon.com - речника на улицата". BG Jargon (in Bulgarian). 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017.
^ "Van twee walletjes eten". Onze Taal (in Dutch). 11 May 2011.
^ "De kool en de geit sparen". Onze Taal (in Dutch). viii Apr 2011.
^ "Wasch mir den Pelz, aber mach mich nicht nass". dict.cc Wörterbuch (in German).
^ "Wasch mir den Pelz aber mach mich nicht nass". Redensarten-Alphabetize.de (in German).
^ "Human kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen". dict.cc Wörterbuch (in German).
^ "Man kann nicht auf zwei Hochzeiten tanzen". Redensarten-Index.de (in German).
^ Griffiths, Bruce; Jones, Dafydd Glyn (1995). Geiriadur year Academi: The Welsh Academy English language–Welsh Dictionary (in Welsh). Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press. p. 191. ISBN9780708311868.
^ Bello-Olówóòkéré, G.A.B. (2004). Ẹgbẹ̀rún ìjìnlẹ̀ òwe Yorùbá : àti ìtumọ̀ wọn ní èdè gẹ̀ẹ́sì [yard Yoruba proverbs and their translations in English]. Lagos, Nigeria: Concept Publication. ISBN9789788065203. OCLC 607738697.

External links [edit]

The lexicon definition of take one'south block and eat it besides at Wiktionary
Post at "The Phrase Finder", quoting Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New and The Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings.