Cake.

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

Ever heard that phrase? Oh, I have. Plenty of times. More than I can probably count.

I was thinking about it yesterday and came to the conclusion that it makes absolutely no sense.

Why would anyone want a piece of cake that they can't eat? What is the point of having a piece of cake that you can only stare at and inhale it's sweet aroma? That is cruel. Unless of course it's like the "forbidden cake" and if you eat it you will be poisoned and drop dead. Could very well be but couldn't you rephrase that to something along the lines of...

"You can't have your cake and eat it too because the cake will poison you"

Anyone who poisons cake is just plain cruel though.

I do realize that this is an idiom and it pertains to having or wanting more than one can handle or deserve, or trying to have two incompatible things.

But is having a piece of cake and eating it too terribly incompatible?

This aged proverb is basically saying that you can't enjoy two desirable things at the same time.

Perhaps a better way to say this would be,

"You can't eat your cake and have it too"?

Maybe?

Because after you eat your cake, you can't have it. Even though you already had it. Ah, here I go again. Typical overanalyzation.

What are your thoughts concerning this overused idiom?

I just wanna eat my cake.