# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/21 "2002-10-17T17:14:11Z")
The Master speaks: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_334.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_334.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/22 "2002-10-18T19:11:55Z")
The theme is quest! Quest! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/23 "2002-10-18T20:09:47Z")
**Super Gnat, Silentgoldfish** , and **cmkeller** : Keep it up, and I’ll have to take an Asprin! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/24 "2002-10-18T20:52:07Z")
What it means to me is you’ve got the same desktop calendar. “Last Impressions.” Sob. No calendar next year? ---
**Author:** ![Bean\_Counter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@Bean\_Counter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Counter)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/25 "2002-10-18T21:56:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by photopat \* > \*\*No calendar next year? \*\* Try reusing 1991’s calendar… [Hijack]Speaking of Phule… I’ve noticed the new “elite” credit cards are now “Titanium”. I wonder how long until they actually get to “Dilithium”.[/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/26 "2002-10-18T22:21:41Z")
I always thought she said “Let them eat toast!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/27 "2002-10-19T05:07:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manwithaplan \* > \*\*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. \*\* Although she didn’t actually say it, as Cecil points out in his column. Furthermore, it seems that the person who made the original allusion to the quote, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in a book called _Confessions_ claimed only that a “young princess” whom he does not name said " Let them eat brioche." People thought that it sounded like something she’d say, she got credited with the quote. ( \*\*Legends, lies and cherished myths of world history \*\*by Richard Shenkman) ---
**Author:** ![YPOD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e99b99/32.png) [@YPOD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YPOD)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/28 "2002-10-19T15:39:28Z")
My grandmother, of German and French descent, said that her grandmother (German) called anything that spilled out of pot or pan and was dried or burned up “cake,” or sometimes “caking” (kaeken?) just like we say something is “caked on” whatever. Cecil’s answer is closer to what my grandmother remembers, but the “cake” was just an accidental mess rather than a deliberate technique. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/29 "2002-10-19T18:03:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by YPOD \* > \*\*My grandmother, of German and French descent, said that her grandmother (German) called anything that spilled out of pot or pan and was dried or burned up “cake,” or sometimes “caking” (kaeken?) just like we say something is “caked on” whatever. Cecil’s answer is closer to what my grandmother remembers, but the “cake” was just an accidental mess rather than a deliberate technique. \*\* It wasn’t Cecil who said brioche used to be caked on flour and water, it was a contributor from Chicago. Cecil contradicted him. FWIW, [this recipe](http://www.upword.com/bread/brioche.html) agrees with my own experience of brioche, which is that it’s just sweetened bread - not a flour/water mixture and not a fancy cake you’d expect to buy from a confectioners’ shop either. Reckon Gary Larson would appreciate us running his joke into the ground like this? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/30 "2002-10-19T21:18:11Z")
There have been several threads about what Marie Antoinette supposedly said in the forum “Comments on Cecil’s Columns”. A recent one: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132957](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132957) Back to the OP: I don’t really get the joke, either. If this was just a last-minute attempt to put a nice spin on her statement, I’d think the word “and” would be emphasized, not “ice”. The “I scream” interpretation doesn’t work too well for me, either. I don’t have anything better to offer, though. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599/31 "2002-10-19T21:22:26Z")
One more possibility. In “Pre-history of the Far Side”, Larsen admits he drew a couple of cartoons that he realized after they were published could have been done better. This might be another one of those. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-far-side-mean/132599.md?page=1)