# New member with a question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2000, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140 "2000-06-21T21:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/1 "2000-06-21T21:27:10Z")
Hello all, I’ve been lurking around for a long time now, and I’ve finally decided to post the question for which I desperately require an answer. I figure if you can’t answer it, no one can. Since I am one (so I’m told), what exactly does the term “mange cake” mean? The literal translation, is, I believe, cake eater, but that doesn’t really help me. Is this some veiled reference to the French Revolution? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/2 "2000-06-21T21:32:19Z")
The word “cake” doesn’t mean “cake” in French. I’m not even sure there is a word “cake” that means anything at all in French, frosting-covered confection or otherwise. I would guess that “mange cake” has something to do with a really itchy dog. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/3 "2000-06-21T22:41:20Z")
Well, I’ve never heard the expression ‘mange cake’ before, but it certainly can’t be a description of anything good. I’d guess it’s some kind of reference to a smegma-like substance you would otherwise find on dogs with bad mange. In this case, ‘cake’ would refer to the sort of French Revolution “let them eat cake” expression which refers to left over, rotten foodstuffs at the bottom of the barrels, or froth skimmed from the surface that is otherwise discarded. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/4 "2000-06-22T00:02:05Z")
Im with Yardster : mange "manj\ noun [alter. of ME manjewe, fr. MF mangene itching, fr. mangier to eat] (1540) : any of various persistent contagious skin diseases marked esp. by eczematous inflammation and loss of hair, affecting domestic animals or sometimes humans, and caused by a minute parasitic mite — compare sarcoptic mange ©1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Try to make something nice from that! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/5 "2000-06-22T01:08:58Z")
My mommy used to make the best mange cake. We had it every Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/779978/32.png) [@Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zumba_The_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/6 "2000-06-22T01:39:28Z")
Ah! A challenge. With the help of the Internet I can find anything. Or at least I thought so. First I asked Jeeves what a mange cake was. He could answer the questions “How do I bake a cake?” and “How do I treat my dog’s mange?” but he had no idea what a mange cake was. Then I went to Yahoo. I did a search for Mange Cake. Yahoo found two sites but they were both in a foreign language. Coincidentally I think it was French. Finally, out of desperation, I sent an email to my fourteen year old brother. He is a teenager so I figured that he must be up on all the new slang terms. He replied asking me if I were crazy and something about Slim Shady…I never know what he is talking about anymore! The results of all of my extensive research indicate that there is no such thing as a mange cake. If someone tells you there is such a thing they made it up. If Jeeves and Yahoo and my little brother don’t know then no one does. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/7 "2000-06-22T04:59:16Z")
I think that perhaps the phrase you are searching for is actually “mangia cake.” It seems to be some sort of Italian slang. There _is_ a rather famous Italian song called, “Don’t Be a Mangia Cake”, but I have been unsuccessful in finding out exactly what it means. I have seen people make references to their “mangia cake” wives, kids or husbands. Several novels use this expression but I can’t seem to access the Italian Alternative Dictionary from my computer here at work. Maybe someone could take it from here? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/8 "2000-06-22T05:11:44Z")
If mangia cake is an insult, why would this exist? [http://www.hwcn.org/Information/sports/events/festitalia/mangia.htm](http://www.hwcn.org/Information/sports/events/festitalia/mangia.htm) It seems kind of odd to advertise a thing like that if mangia cake is something nasty. However, this site [http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/paradise/144173.html](http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/paradise/144173.html) seems to uphold the theory of mangia cake being an Italian insult. Strange indeed. I’ll look up some sites on insults and get back to you. ---
**Author:** ![JBurton99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@JBurton99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBurton99)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/9 "2000-06-22T09:41:35Z")
Whatever you Dante, don’t ask what Felching and Squicking are. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/10 "2000-06-22T11:56:44Z")
Looks like ‘mangia cake’ means ‘cake eater’ but that’s just my WAG. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/11 "2000-06-22T15:48:12Z")
Well no wonder we couldn’t figure it out, it wasn’t spelt properly. ---
**Author:** ![jamshid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@jamshid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamshid)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/12 "2000-06-22T17:01:35Z")
Here’s a response to an email I sent about a newspaper column that mentions a “mangecake”… "RE: \<[http://www.news-information.muskoka-ontario.com/so-muskoka/xmas.htm](http://www.news-information.muskoka-ontario.com/so-muskoka/xmas.htm)\>Ian MacKenzie’s SO MUSKOKA - Home for The Holidays \> \>What’s a mangecake? hey there… Mangecake is a term used by Italians to describe WASPS. Means ‘cake eater’. They use it like the Jews use ‘goy’. Can be friendly, can be fightin’ words - the delivery is everything. Hope that helps. enjoy Ian" So, I guess the “mangia cake” description is valid, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-member-with-a-question/23140/13 "2000-06-22T20:15:39Z")
Sorry about the spelling. I wasn’t sure if it was mange, manja, mangia etc. The reason I ask is because I’m getting married to a Pole, and she keeps referring to my cheap mangia cake family. I agree they’re cheap, but I always wondered EXACTLY what mangia cake means…