# What's this Far Side mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599 "2002-10-17T01:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hauky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@Hauky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hauky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/1 "2002-10-17T01:02:24Z")
So there’s Marie Antoinette, about to get her head chopped off. The caption says “Marie Antoinette’s last-ditch effort to save her head.” She’s got a word bubble, too, that says “And ice cream! I said, ‘Let them eat cake and ice cream!’” I don’t get it at all–but then, I’m not much of a history student. What’s this mean? ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/2 "2002-10-17T01:08:33Z")
Marie Antoinette is widely rumored to have said, when asked what the peasants of France should do since they had no bread, “No bread? Let them eat cake!” So, this would be her attempt to make it sound like she was being nice. Cake and ice cream, that’s nice. Marie was not nice. That was a terrible explanation, but hopefully it gave you an idea. Btw, welcome to the SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/3 "2002-10-17T01:10:12Z")
The story goes that when Marie Antoinette was told the poor were starving because they had no bread she said “If they have no bread then let them eat cake”. Of course Cecil has the real story [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_334.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_334.html) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/4 "2002-10-17T01:38:52Z")
Trying to offer something “good” to prevent herself from being killed? That’s my take on it… ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/5 "2002-10-17T02:26:44Z")
> [@](#): > > If they have no bread, let them eat cake Can someone please explain this to me?? ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/6 "2002-10-17T02:31:46Z")
I may be mistaken (and I probably am), but the way I’ve always understood it was that it was Marie’s lack of understanding of the real problems of the poor. They had none of the necessities of life, and she suggested they just eat something else. I’ve always seen it along the lines of a rich person responding to a poor person’s lack of cash by saying, “Well, just write a check, or use your credit card!” The person in question is missing the point that there is nothing there in the first place. Well, I’m probably way off, but this explanation has always made sense to me, anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/7 "2002-10-17T02:35:15Z")
Super Gnat: > [@](#): > > Can someone please explain this to me?? Anything for a fellow “Phule’s Company” fan… The basic notion was that the French nobles (such as the queen) were so out of touch with the common folk that they couldn’t even relate to the notion that people were starving. Her reaction to people “not having bread” was to think that they should just eat something else. As for the Far Side cartoon, that takes the cluelessness one level deeper - not understanding why her “let them eat cake” line was met with hostility, she thinks maybe her suggestion was not sufficient, so adds that they should eat ice cream as well…compunding her problem, not fixing it (thus the humor). ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/8 "2002-10-17T02:47:05Z")
And if that doesn’t explain it **cmkeller** perhaps you could draw them a picture. 😉 😕 [sup]but Far Side already did that.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/9 "2002-10-17T04:44:17Z")
Look, we in 21st century America are not unlike Marie Antoinette- to us, bread is something we use to sop up the gravy from our dinner, so if we run out of bread (or if the local market is out of bread), we’re a bit miffed, but it’s not a big deal. We forget that, until fairly recently in human history, bread wasn’t a minor accompaniment to our dinner, bread WAS our dinner! In the past, when people prayed “Give us this day our daily bread,” what they meant was, “PLEASE, God, let us have enough bread to stay alive another day.” Bread was to 18th century Frenchmen what potatoes were to the Irish in 1947- it was practically all they got to eat. So, when blight struck the potato crop, Irishmen starved. And when stores in Paris had no bread, Frenchmen starved. - As others have noted, when people spread the rumor that Marie Antoinette said, “Let them eat cake,” they were making the point that French royals were out to lunch, and were so removed from everyday reality, they didn’t know or care that their people were going hungry. Just like modern Americans, Marie Antoinette supposedly thought a dearth of bread was a trifling matter, not a matter of life and death. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/10 "2002-10-17T04:55:57Z")
The Irish potato famine began in the 1840s, not the 1940s. Otherwise, good answer. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/11 "2002-10-17T10:06:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kilt-wearin’ man \* > \*\*The Irish potato famine began in the 1840s, not the 1940s. Otherwise, good answer. \*\* Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) made a joke about the Irish Famine, similar to the OP cartoon. He said, reflecting on the potato crop failure, …“Well, expect no sympathy from me if you’re giong to be a fussy eater…” (or something to that effect). Actually, to quote (just found it…) > [@](#): > > **Alan:** Phwoar, this looks disgusting. Still, might as well eat it. So, how many people were killed in the Irish famine? > > **Aidan:** Erm, two million, and another two million had to leave the country. > > **Alan:** Right. I mean, if it was just the potatoes that were affected, at the end of the day, you’re will pay the price if you’re a fussy eater. If they could afford to emigrate then they could afford to eat in a modest restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/12 "2002-10-17T10:15:22Z")
Hee hee hee. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/13 "2002-10-17T11:06:29Z")
No, no, no! I think you’ve all got it wrong. She was saying “I said Ice Cream” because they thought she was saying “I Scream”. Get it? Let them eat cake and I scream… ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/14 "2002-10-17T11:06:47Z")
I had always assumed that the “let them eat cake” line was circulated to illustrate her callousness rather than an innocent lack of understanding i.e. she knew well that there was no alternative to bread for the poor. Of course that wouldn’t make sense in the context of the cartoon, so it’s probably just me being a bit slow on the uptake. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/15 "2002-10-17T11:22:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > \*\*Super Gnat: > > Anything for a fellow “Phule’s Company” fan… > > [snip] > > \*\* [hijack] Man, I thought I was the only one who’d every heard of them, and now two in one thread?!? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/16 "2002-10-17T11:23:49Z")
**manwitha** , though it may be your interpretation, that’s a context in which I have never heard the quote used. She was just so pampered that she thought the poor were rioting due to lack of choice in bakery products. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/17 "2002-10-17T11:23:59Z")
I heard that “cake” was a euphemism for “shit,” which would explain (if Larson is coming from the same place) why the statement outraged the populace in the cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowWarrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7993a0/32.png) [@ShadowWarrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowWarrior)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/18 "2002-10-17T11:49:29Z")
I was told ( by my history teacher back in school, so it must be true!) that what gets translated as ‘cake’ was actually some sort of animal fodder (maybe like a seed-cake) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/19 "2002-10-17T12:32:41Z")
I learned she actually said “brioche”, which is a fancy sort of cake/bread thing. But it was propaganda anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/20 "2002-10-17T13:36:49Z")
Thanks **cmkeller**! Never knew there were so many interpretations, though. And yeah, I like **Phule’s Company** , although the first two are vastly better than the last two. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599.md?page=2)