MOTIVATION

제 막내 동생은 현재 이스라엘에서 일하고 있습니다.

학계나 인더스트리에서 워낙 성공한 이스라엘사람들이 많아서, 그들의 인식과 사상이 궁금했었습니다.

그래서 요 며칠전에 동생과 카톡을 하다가 물어봤습니다.

[A.] 이스라엘에서 살아보니 사람에 대해 뭐를 배운것 같아 너는?

[A.] What are the insights worth sharing?

[J.] 여기는 실패를 용인하는 문화가 기본적으로 깔려 있어서

[J.] 사람들이 시도를 많이 해요

[A.] 와우

[A.] 어떻게 그걸 느꼈어 너는?

[J.] 한국의 경우 실패하면 두번 다시 기회를 안주는 인식이 있는 것 같은데

[J.] 여기는 실패를 통해 배운다는 인식이 진정 진리로 깔려있다고 하네요

[A.] 정말 좋은 문화다

[J.] 넵! 사람들이 정말 레이드 백 하고 릴랙스 하긴 한데 안 좋은 점은 하이테크 부문 빼고 다른 부문이 전체적으로 일 속도가 한참 느려요

[A.] You cannot have your cake and eat it, I guess

‘너는 너의 케익을 먹을 수 없고 가질 수 없다’라는 말도 안되는 표현. 도대체 무슨 뜻일까요?

You cannot have your cake and eat it, I guess

DEFINITION

  • The proverb literally means "you cannot simultaneously retain your cake and eat it". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. It can be used to say that one cannot or should not have or want more than one deserves or is reasonable, or that one cannot or should not try to have two incompatible things. (wikipedia)

FROM MOVIES

  • Let me add this: the good people of Northfork will be able to have their cake and eat it, too. (Northfork)
  • You get very independent when you live alone. You get to be a real individual. - You can’t have your cake and eat it too in life. (Grey Gardens)
  • But she said when I get into Harvard, she’ll buy me a cake. And when I graduate, she’ll let me eat it! It’s like that saying, “You can have your cake and eat it, too,” after four years of college. (Bunk'd)

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FROM NEWS

  • But with the aid of a computer cranking out a set of hefty equations, Bose literally figured out ways to have cake and eat it too (NYT)
  • The senator from Texas assures his acolytes that everyone can have cake and eat it too (economist)
  • In fact, she thinks she’s among those lucky ones who have cake and eat it too (NYT)

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FROM TWITTER

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VIDEO

  • Yeah, you just want your cake and to eat it, too.

META & CONTEXT

  • Is it a slang? no.
  • Can I use it in a formal setting? yes.

(data source: Davies, Mark. (2008-) The Corpus of Contemporary American English: 450 million words, 1990-present. Available online at http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/)

PHRASE HISTORY

image source: Google Ngram

꽤 오래전부터 쓰였군요. 그래프를 보시면 1850 년대부터 이 표현이 슬슬 쓰이기 시작한 것을 볼 수 있습니다.

TYPICAL MISTAKES

  1. cake 는 단수입니다.
    • You cannot have your cakes and eat it (X)
    • You cannot have your cake and eat them (X)
    • You cannot have your cake and eat it (O)
  2. 보통 소유격 Your 가 붙습니다. 남한테 조언할 때 하는말이라 그런 것 같습니다. “네 " 케익 말이야.. 네 케익..
    • You cannot have cake and eat it (X)
    • You cannot have THE cake and eat it (X)
    • You cannot have A cake and eat it (X)
    • You cannot have YOUR and eat it (O)
  3. 뒤에 too 가 붙어도 되고 생략해도 됩니다.
    • You cannot have your cake and eat it (O)
    • You cannot have your cake and eat it, too (O)