# have your cake and eat it



## baclanova

Terve!

Is there a Finnish version of the proverb: _You can't have your cake and eat it_? 

Kiitos!


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## Gavril

According to the WSOY dictionary, _to have one's cake and eat it _can be translated _poimia pullasta rusinat, _literally "to pick the raisins out of the bun".

However, this is not exactly the same as saying "You can't have your cake and eat it"; I'm not sure how that meaning would normally be translated.


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## baclanova

Kiitos! I guess it's a bit different, but still has the same gist: to only take the good parts out of a situation.


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## Gavril

Gavril said:


> However, this is not exactly the same as saying "You can't have your cake and eat it"; I'm not sure how that meaning would normally be translated.



To clarify, I'm not sure whether _Ei voi poimia pullasta rusinoita_ would correspond to "You can't have your cake and eat it" -- can a Finnish speaker confirm this?

(The point of the English phrase is that it's impossible to still have your cake after you've eaten it, whereas _poimia pullasta rusinoita _doesn't seem like an impossible action at all -- hence my doubts about the negative form of the phrase.)


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## Spongiformi

Gavril said:


> To clarify, I'm not sure whether _Ei voi poimia pullasta rusinoita_ would correspond to "You can't have your cake and eat it" -- can a Finnish speaker confirm this?



I have to confess I'd never even heard of that English saying. But it's obvious the "_rusinat_" one doesn't correspond. It's used to either describe a situation where it's impossible to only choose the good parts, avoiding the bad ones (_ei voi poimia rusinoita pullasta_) or a situation where somebody does only choose the best things out of something (_poimia rusinat pullasta_).

"Tässä firmassa ei voi poimia rusinoita pullasta. Kaikki tekevät vuorollaan likaisimmatkin työt."
"Kyösti saapuu aina alennusmyynteihin aikaisin aamulla poimiakseen rusinat pullasta."


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## Detka

baclanova said:


> Is there a Finnish version of the proverb: _You can't have your cake and eat it_?



Kakkua ei voi syödä ja säästää.
Kakkua ei voi sekä säästää että syödä.

http://goo.gl/FCD7et


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