le beurre et l'argent du beurre

French

Etymology

Literally "the butter and the money from [selling] the butter"

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lə bœʁ e l‿aʁ.ʒɑ̃ dy bœʁ/

Noun

le beurre et l'argent du beurre m (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) (having) one's cake and eating it too; two mutually exclusive things, such that one can only choose one over another
    Tu ne peux pas avoir le beurre et l’argent du beurre.
    You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Usage notes

While the French expression is used mostly with avoir and vouloir, a variety of construction with verbs such as obtenir or garder are possible, unlike in English.

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.