cake is cake
cake is cake by neckss March 20, 2023
Words you can keep
the cake is a lie
Roughly translates to "your promised reward is merely a fictitious motivator". Popularized by the game "Portal" (found on Half-Life 2's "Orange Box" game release for PC, X-Box 360, and PS3). During the game, an electronic voice encourages you to solve intricate puzzles using cake as a motivating perk. When you have "broken out" of the game's initial testing phase (from threat of death), you find scrawls on walls of the innards of the testing center warning you that "the cake is a lie".
Employee #1: Yo, Dave, manager says we will probably get a promotion if we meet the sales expectations for this quarter.
Employee #2: Yeah, so, don't get your hopes up on that one, Ed. The cake is a lie.
Employee #1: Really, aw crap.
Employee #2: Yeah, so, don't get your hopes up on that one, Ed. The cake is a lie.
Employee #1: Really, aw crap.
the cake is a lie by Mike Grant October 30, 2007
The cake is a lie
Implies that a promised reward for one's work is false, with the one proffering the reward never intending to give it in the first place, possibly because the reward never even existed (see also: "there is no spoon"). This phrase can be used to express grief or frustration regarding any situation where there is an imbalance between effort and reward. This phrase was popularized by the game "Portal" by Valve Software Corporation.
During the game, GlaDOS, an artificially intelligent operating system and the game's passive-aggressive guide, uses the reward of cake as a motivating factor in an attempt to manipulate the player. It is first mentioned during the "impossible puzzle room", where she urges the player to "quit now and cake will be served immediately". In a later stage, the player can access a "hidden" area of the testing chamber to find a previous test participant had scrawled "The cake is a lie!" among other warning messages. Cake continues to remain the promised reward for completing the test and/or obeying GlaDOS, particularly in the final stages of the game. Finally, in the ending song, GlaDOS cheerfully sings about how "there's no sense crying over every mistake, you just keep on trying 'till you run out of cake."
In the game, cake serves as a carefully calculated motivational device, but there are suggestions that it also serves as an essence of humanity--the ability to eat cake, taste it, and experience emotional pleasure from it--which a computer cannot experience even with artificial intelligence. In this less commonly-used sense, the phrase "the cake is a lie" can also imply that one's emotions or the basis of one's emotions are false, with cake representing emotion, emotional basis, or emotional capability.
During the game, GlaDOS, an artificially intelligent operating system and the game's passive-aggressive guide, uses the reward of cake as a motivating factor in an attempt to manipulate the player. It is first mentioned during the "impossible puzzle room", where she urges the player to "quit now and cake will be served immediately". In a later stage, the player can access a "hidden" area of the testing chamber to find a previous test participant had scrawled "The cake is a lie!" among other warning messages. Cake continues to remain the promised reward for completing the test and/or obeying GlaDOS, particularly in the final stages of the game. Finally, in the ending song, GlaDOS cheerfully sings about how "there's no sense crying over every mistake, you just keep on trying 'till you run out of cake."
In the game, cake serves as a carefully calculated motivational device, but there are suggestions that it also serves as an essence of humanity--the ability to eat cake, taste it, and experience emotional pleasure from it--which a computer cannot experience even with artificial intelligence. In this less commonly-used sense, the phrase "the cake is a lie" can also imply that one's emotions or the basis of one's emotions are false, with cake representing emotion, emotional basis, or emotional capability.
Common Usage Example --
Bob: "We worked hard this quarter, where's the raises you promised?"
George: "Sorry, Bob, the company is making some cut-backs; no raises this year."
Bob: "So the cake is a lie. Why did we have to work so hard, then?"
Bob: "We worked hard this quarter, where's the raises you promised?"
George: "Sorry, Bob, the company is making some cut-backs; no raises this year."
Bob: "So the cake is a lie. Why did we have to work so hard, then?"
The cake is a lie by Wyrenth March 17, 2009
Cake is in the oven
Fat Rick: Odelay holmes! The cake is in the oven!
Buho: Cake? What fuckin' cake?
Fat Rick: You know, the cake is in the oven!
Buho: Huh?
Fat Rick: Remember what Huesos told you! Well, the dope car was just dropped outside that shitty dive bar!
Buho: Hey bro, I thought we weren't supposed to actually say that!
Fat Rick bitch slaps Buho.
Buho: Cake? What fuckin' cake?
Fat Rick: You know, the cake is in the oven!
Buho: Huh?
Fat Rick: Remember what Huesos told you! Well, the dope car was just dropped outside that shitty dive bar!
Buho: Hey bro, I thought we weren't supposed to actually say that!
Fat Rick bitch slaps Buho.
Cake is in the oven by ZXY&ABC July 28, 2019
cake is a lie
A substitute for "The writing is on the wall'. From the (video game) Portal. The graffiti in background levels give clues and point out truths including "the cake is a lie".
Chell is promised cake and grief counseling as her reward if she manages to complete all the test chambers. After Chell completes the final test chamber, GLaDOS congratulates her but the promised cake is a lie.
cake is a lie by Portal player August 14, 2008
the cake is a lie
expression used when something great has been promised from a third party but it ultimately is not so.
(six months prior to Vista release) "Vista will be the greatest operating system ever!"
(three months after Vista release) "The cake is a lie."
(three months after Vista release) "The cake is a lie."
the cake is a lie by Gurban January 4, 2009
The Cake Is Not A Lie
Used as a rebuttal to anyone, usually a 4chan frequenter, who says "the cake is a lie." It is usually said by someone that has actually completed the game "Portal" in which, upon completion, one sees a cutscene showing that the cake is, in fact, not a lie.
4chan troll: "TEH CAEK IZ A LIE!"
Tyrone: "Excuse me good sir, I've completed 'Portal' and let me tell you, the cake is not a lie."
Tyrone: "Excuse me good sir, I've completed 'Portal' and let me tell you, the cake is not a lie."
The Cake Is Not A Lie by BassMZero January 16, 2011
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