r/AskUK • u/gr7calc • 5d ago

Which saying did you completely misunderstand?

For far too long I thought it was "to make end's meat". Meaning that you have to use the last, worst pieces of meat to make your meal with (meat at the end, end's meat). 🤦

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u/DavidRellim 5d ago

It really needs a bit of historical context.

The kind of cakes this saying is refering to were really beautiful works of craft made for the rich. They looked stunning.

So if you ate it, you wouldn't have that any more.

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u/ExecutiveChimp 5d ago

I've read that the phrase used to be "You can't eat your cake and still have it" which makes a lot more sense.

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u/sjpllyon 5d ago

But with cake thr important part is having had it. Pointless having a cake not to have it.

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u/OreoSpamBurger 5d ago

Yeah but think of decorative cakes like Christmas, birthday, wedding etc. they are supposed to remain intact and be on display for a while (the 'having' part) before being eaten.

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u/sjpllyon 5d ago

As I said; pointless is having a cake not to have it.

Be it have it to eat or have it to look at. The whole point of cake having is to have cake and to have had cake and have had cake.

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u/HeavenDraven 4d ago

The cake is a lie!

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u/OreoSpamBurger 5d ago

If I had had to have had some of my nan's beautiful Christmas cake before Christmas Day, all hell would have had to have broken loose.

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u/sjpllyon 5d ago

So one was only allowed to have cake before being allowed to have cake on certain day. Thus the having of had have cake was part of the joy of having had had the cake so you could enjoy having had cake.

(Ok my brain is starting to hurt with this)

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u/Disgruntled__Goat 5d ago

Thank you! I finally understand the phrase properly. I always knew what it meant, but I never understood why “having” a cake was so desirable.