I think the first guy Paul Revere woke up coined that phrase.
“Running back and forth.”
How can you go (or come) back, if you have yet to go forth? Shouldn’t it be “running forth and back”?
“Walking out the door:”
Clearly you first walk forth, then remember you left the damn iron on, potentially burning the house down, at which point you run back, then run forth again to catch up with the people you left standing there in the wake of your panic.
It’s possible to make “The exception that proves the rule.” make sense, but it gets used to mean “Well, my rule is crap and has been disproven, but I’m going to pretend it still works by assuming that the disproof makes it stronger.”
Nothing makes no sense like the p.c. Nazi statement that all people who say they are not racist are ipso facto racist. The fanatics here constantly make that foolish statement which does happen to perfectly represent their level of so-called thought.
Oh, aren’t you a sweetie. Anyway…
Logically, this is true. However, the heuristic that states that “any sentence that begins with ‘I’m not a racist, but…’ will continue by claiming some batshit racist nonsense” is still perfectly usable for practical everyday purposes. As least as far as I can tell.
Or if the saying was you can’t keep your cake and eat it too. That would make it more clear, I think.
No, it wouldn’t. I can keep it for 3 days, then eat it. What I can’t do is eat it, and still have it, too.
This happens often enough that we have a saying for it? :dubious: (Cite? :rolleyes: )
You agree that you must first go forth, then proceed to run back and forth again, so I’m happy. No cite necessary. 
This is more an example of a phrase being said incorrectly so often that it’s overtaken the original phrase: “I could care less”, being used to mean a person couldn’t care less about whatever it is being discussed.
Related to these is the saying, “You feel me?”
Um, no, not really. That must have been someone else. I am standing over here, minding my own business!
Recently on LinkedIn or Facebook, I saw someone post some dumb thing, and one of the replies was “I could agree more.” I don’t know if it was a typo.
People complaining about “I could care less” is rapidly becoming my new berserk button.
It’s basic freaking sarcasm. Which is something that the people on this board are supposed to be experts at. So what gives?
“I couldn’t care less” is a bland and neutral statement of fact. “I could care less” is an ironic inversion, giving the statement a delightful sarcastic fizz.
So what if it doesn’t make bleeding perfect logical sense? Language often doesn’t.
(And, concerning that subject, here’s a relevant xkcd that you can take with you for the ride.)
I agree with you. This is what I came in here to share.
Let me push the button. Berserk away! I could NOT care less!
I think it’s interesting that this multiply-revived 160-post zombie from 2005 Commonly Misunderstood/Misused Words or Phrases - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board *on the very same topic *was revived a few days ago and has been going strong ever since.
Now we’re in danger of them being sequential threads with OPs a decade apart.
Everything happens for a reason
Really. Explain the reason, please.
It’s God’s plan.
Hey, you asked.
How about, You cannot continue to be in possession of your cake and also consume it?
The obvious problem with the cake saying is that, when you tell a waiter at a restaurant, upon perusing the dessert menu: “I’ll have the cake”, you have every intention of also eating the gosh-damned cake.
Yeah, I suppose that the expression can be saved with some rejiggering. Probably better to just nuke it from orbit, though.