We flip idioms all the time. Head-over-heels is another one, used to be the other way around. I suspect it’s a subconscious thing as both moved the long e sound to the end and we prefer vowel sounds in particular orders and rhythms.
I suspect the cause is that the the layperson couldn’t wrap their head around the original version (because it’s supposed to be a paradox) and ended up switching it around to “make sense”
I’ve never understood it the other way around, you definitionally have to have your cake to eat it.
What one wants to do is eat the cake and then still have it…
We flip idioms all the time. Head-over-heels is another one, used to be the other way around. I suspect it’s a subconscious thing as both moved the long e sound to the end and we prefer vowel sounds in particular orders and rhythms.
I suspect the cause is that the the layperson couldn’t wrap their head around the original version (because it’s supposed to be a paradox) and ended up switching it around to “make sense”