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(This is re-purposed from my lesson on proverbs).
You can't have your cake and eat it too
Youtube: https://youtu.be/vgncXbjKcWk
Today's vocabulary is a proverb. A proverb is a wise saying which gives you advice about how to live your life. Today's proverb is: You can't have your cake and eat it too.
So, this is somewhat of a humorous proverb. In this situation, you have to imagine that somebody goes to the bakery shop and buys a very beautiful cake. So the decorations on the cake are very beautiful. Maybe there's a design made of frosting or the pattern looks very beautiful. Whatever it is, the cake looks very beautiful. So the person is very enamored -- they really like the beautiful design of the cake and they want to keep the cake so they can admire the beautiful design. But of course, cakes are delicious. Cakes are made to be eaten. So they also want to eat the cake, but if they eat the cake, then they can't admire the beautiful design anymore. And this is the problem: You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you eat the cake, then you don't have it anymore. So that's the imagery behind this proverb. It's used to describe situations in which somebody wants to do two things that are contradictory--two things that go in opposite directions.
For example, imagine this conversation between two friends:
“I've decided I'm going to start saving my money. I want to buy a new house.”
“What a great idea!”
“ I've also decided my life is too boring. I need to take more vacations. I'm going to Hawaii, Italy, and Indonesia this year.”
“Wait, you can't do both. You can't take lots of vacations and save money. I mean, you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?”
You will--you may often hear this proverb said in different ways it can be said as a statement: “You can't have your cake and eat it too”. It can also be said as a description of someone, for example: “he wants to have his cake and eat it too”. It can be used as an accusation, you can say to somebody: “You're trying to have your cake and eat it too”. It can be used as a question: “Wait a minute, are you trying to have your cake and eat it too?” et cerera. It can be used in many different forms, but it all has basic elements of: have a cake and eat it too.
So let me know if you agree or disagree with this proverb, and also let me know if you have any similar proverbs in your own language.
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