Heard on Springer: "You can't have your cake, and ice cream, too!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wasn't the original form, "You can't eat your cake and have it too"?

I've never heard it put that way, but I've seen it often in 19th C. books.

JL

On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 1:09 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Heard on Springer: "You can't have your cake, and ice cream,
>               too!"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Only 317 raw hits, but it still bodes ill. Many of the hits are
> arguments that the original version makes no sense - this, despite the
> fact that it's more transparent than "It's an ill wind [that blows
> no(body) good]," my personal favorite among old saws - but could be
> made to make sense, with the modification.
>
> (As it happens, Springer's guest spontaneously corrected herself,
> after a few seconds.)
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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