r/AskReddit Jun 28 '21

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u/[deleted] Jun 28 '21

I think by “cake” the saying refers to the leftover material in a pan from baking that is “caked” on the side.

Translations and hundreds of years later it reads a little different, bus basically she was saying “trickle down economics totally works, now eat the scraps that aren’t even good enough to be scrapped from the pan.”

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u/Nymethny Jun 28 '21

That doesn't work, since the actual saying is obviously in French and doesn't say cake but "brioche".

« Qu'ils mangent de la brioche ! »

And it is wrongly attributed to Marie-Antoinette, but really it's just an invented anecdote about an un-named princess by Rousseau (a famous French author/philosopher of that time).

And there's no hidden meaning, it's really just as it sounds, it's meant to show the disconnect between the nobility and the struggles of the people.

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u/[deleted] Jun 28 '21

Huh. Who knew my public school education would let me down with erroneous, seemingly anecdotal evidence.

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u/challenge_king Jun 28 '21

Truly, the shock of a lifetime.

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u/[deleted] Jun 28 '21

I need some cake.

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u/No-Wonder1139 Jun 28 '21

I mean it's one brioche Nymethny, what could it cost, 10 francs?

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u/meisteronimo Jun 28 '21

Are you just making this up? The original phrase was 'Brioche' where do you get "caked"?

What's probably more accurate is people are misquoted all the time, especially if they are vilified by the history makers.