Where does "have his cake and eat it too" come from and what does it mean?

[Bandit]

If I buy a cake I surely want to eat that cake.. If someone gives me a piece of cake, it isn't just for looks, it is to be eaten... This old saying is lost on me....

[NaturalHigh]

1. My wife asked me this last week.

I have no idea. In fact, I can't even imagine. Here's hoping you get an answer.

[Dreamer Tatum]

2. It is poorly worded

It would make more sense if it was "wants to eat his cake and have it, too," and it means you want
an outcome you regard as favorable yet have the option to have the same outcome later, rather than
simply enjoying the good outcome once.

[Denzil_DC]

3. I've not researched it, but

I've always taken it to mean that someone wants to eat their cake, but still have their cake uneaten.

[Coexist]

4. it makes more sense backwards, "you can't eat your cake and have it too"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/magazine/20FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=0

[Hekate]

5. It just means you can't have it both ways

You can think of many instances on your own, but this one is traditional.

[Tx4obama]

6. Google search result...

What does "eat one's cake and have it, too" mean?
Also, have one's cake and eat it, too. Have a dual benefit, consume something and still possess it, as in Doug was engaged to Ann and still dating Jane; he was trying to eat his cake and have it, too. This metaphoric expression is often put negatively, as it already was in John Heywood's proverb collection of 1546: “You cannot eat your cake and have your cake.”

http://idioms.yourdictionary.com/eat-one-s-cake-and-have-it-too

Also...

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_one%27s_cake_and_eat_it_too

[DURHAM D]

7. Does this work -

From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman:
"You can't have your cake and eat it too -- One can't use something up and still have it to enjoy. This proverb was recorded in the book of proverbs by John Heywood in 1546, and is first attested in the United States in the 1742 'Colonial Records of Georgia' in 'Original Papers, 1735-1752.' The adage is found in varying forms: You can't eat your cake and have it too. You can't have everything and eat it too; Eat your cake and have the crumbs in bed with you, etc. ..."

[ananda]

8. It's "You can't have your cake and eat it too."

Meaning, if you eat it, you won't have it.

[Cirque du So-What]

9. Wikipedia sez:

You can't have your cake and eat it (too) is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech. Many people misunderstand the meanings of "have" and "eat" as used here but still understand the proverb in its entirety and intent and use it in this form. Some people feel this form of the proverb is incorrect and illogical and instead prefer "you can't eat your cake and have it (too)", which is in fact closer to the original form of the proverb (see further explanations below) but very rare today. Other rare variants use "keep" instead of "have".

The proverb literally means "you cannot both possess your cake and eat it". It can be used to say that one can't or shouldn't have or want more than one deserves or can handle or that one can't have or shouldn't try to have two incompatible things. The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases "you can't have it both ways" and "you can't have the best of both worlds." Conversely, in the positive sense, it refers to "having it both ways" or "having the best of both worlds."

<snip>

History

An early recording of the phrase is in a letter on 14 March 1538 from Thomas, Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell, as "a man can not have his cake and eate his cake".

more...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_can%27t_have_your_cake_and_eat_it

[angstlessk]

10. Oil companies 'Have their cake and eat it too'

[KT2000]

11. Just for ducks

is another old English saying that is ambiguous. I use it, as in "just for the hell of it" but I don't know the original definition.

[Lex]

12. If you eat the damn cake, you don't have it anymore.

Seems pretty straight-forward.

[Ruby the Liberal]

13. Thanks for asking this - I never knew either.

Thanks to everyone who explained it as well.

[cthulu2016]

14. To eat the cake, yet still have it

It appears to predate our modern use of have as eating something, like "I'll have the flounder" or "We were having desert when..."

[jazzimov]

15. Oooooh, is that how it's supposed to go?

I already thought it was about a guy with a mistress named Kate, and a wife named Edith. He refused to give up either of them, so he wanted his Kate and Edith, too.

[JVS]

16. From wiki

History

An early recording of the phrase is in a letter on 14 March 1538 from Thomas, Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell, as "a man can not have his cake and eate his cake".[7]

In John Heywood's "A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue" from 1546, the phrase occurs with the clauses reversed, as "wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?".[8]

In John Davies' "Scourge of Folly" of 1611, the same order is used, as "A man cannot eat his cake and haue it stil."[9] That same order is used again in Jonathan Swift's 1738 farce "Polite Conversation", in which the character Lady Answerall says "she cannot eat her cake and have her cake."[10] The order was reversed in a posthumous adaptation in 1749, "Tittle Tattle; or, Taste A-la-Mode", as "And she cannot have her Cake and eat her Cake."[11][12][13] From 1812 (R. C. Knopf's "Document Transcriptions of War of 1812" (1959) VI. 204) is a modern-sounding recording as "We cannot have our cake and eat it too."[14]



See also
http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-stoner-has-mindblowing-outofcheetos-experienc,1559/

[reformist2]

17. The one that used to get me was "waste not, want not."

[Bobbie Jo]

18. Yes, let them eat cake.