we've all heard the term "the grass is greener on the other side" which refers to the psychosomatic condition of territoriality in which when you keep a green lawn but you look at your neighbor's lawn it always seems to be more green; the reality is your perspective is trying to be absolute because you're unwilling to admit equalization so you see that there can be only one number 1 and depending on the person you are, you'll see your lawn is twice as better or twice as worse; the modest type will always think that their neighbor has greener grass thus giving the phrase its meaning. something so simple can be analogized with many situations in life, like when two people at a restaurant order the same thing but the other's looks more appetizing.

now everyone understands that phrase, there is no questioning what it means unless you're and idiot, but since i was young one phrase has bothered me for years; many people in my generation (and younger) cannot comprehend what this phrase means:

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

most people know what the meaning is: you can't have both. but the phrase doesn't make sense to most people because they'll often reply, "well, if i have the cake, its mine so i can eat it." and this is the logic of most of us but the phrase was not created to be interpreted in such a way.

the part of the phrase that says "can't have your cake" is not referring to you getting cake but to have the cake as in ownership of the cake. this means that in the phrase, in order for you to have the cake means for you to retain possession of the cake, now if you eat your cake you no longer possess the cake, you've consumed it and any physical tangibility is removed from the equation which now you have no cake.

so by definition, you really cannot have cake and eat it too, the order of the words in the phrase would better be suited for this generation by putting it as "you cannot eat your cake and have it too" which i believe isn't perfect but will open the window and take a person to eventually realize what the phrase is supposed to mean.

so there you have it; once you've eaten your cake, you no longer have it; so now when you hear "you can't have your cake and eat it too" and someone mentions that they don't understand that phrase you can reply with "you can't eat your cake and have it too" and then elaborate on what it means clearing up the confusion.

this has been a random moment, but i feel like i should post this since every-once-in-a-while when some phrases come up people will always ask the legend of the phrase and this is the most commonly misunderstood one.