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An interesting cultural phenomenon of the 'let them eat cake' line....

posted 11 years ago by BridgitteVonHammersmark
11 replies | jump to latest

In the last couple of decades, the term 'mungie cake' has become a bastardized quip that was born out of 'let them eat cake'.
It is used by Italians,Portuguese and Spanish to insult the English and North American whites. I lived in Canada for a number of years, living in an Italian/Portugese neighbourhood in Toronto and I was called a 'Muncie cake' more times than I can count. I am German BTW. The younger Portugese/Italians didn't even use it as an insult half the time - they used it as an honestly uneducated way of letting others know the ethnicity of the white, english speaking Canadian. Like a Portugese man would say, ie.: "my wife is a Mungie cake." So. It even went beyond insult into the Portugese's only way he knew to describe his beloved wife's ethnicity. But it did start as an insult, and the weird thing is, none of these people knew where the term Mungie cake originated from or the meaning of it. If you asked any of them, they would say 'I don't know, it's just how we describe white, english speaking Canadians'. They don't even know the story of Marie Antoinette or the French Revolution.

FYI :-)

"They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantlepiece". - There Will Be Blood

[–] LetThemEatCake01 10 years ago

I don't see the relation actually lol

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 10 years ago

What do you mean? The relation to Marie Antoinette supposedly but not really saying to the starving population of France? You don't see how that sentence relates to my original post? Please specify what you don't understand and I will clarify for you.

[–] vintage-13 10 years ago

Actually, BridgetVonHammersmark, I have to correct you.

I'm also from Toronto, from an italian family who transplanted here in the 50's, and unlike apparently everyone you've asked, I know where the term "mangia cake" - or literally "cake eaters" - comes from, as it was part of my immediate family history. When my family came here from italy, which has a rather bitter and savoury cuisine, and more than that were poor, they were used to sweets being eaten only on holidays. On a normal day maybe after dinner you might have some fruit if you were lucky but that was about it - but the canadians (and widely north americans) would eat dessert every day (my father recounting how he was just flabbergasted at just how many "little debbie snack cakes" were being consumed). All their food was sweet, and it really clashed with their native understanding of food for sustenance. Thus the term "mangia cakes" was coined, their kids bastardizing it to "cakers", denoting a very literally "white bread" culture.

I'm not saying it's ok, i'm not saying it's PC, and i'm not saying it's even accurate of the people it's aimed toward. But I am saying it has *beep* all to do with Marie Antoinette.

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 10 years ago

Oh, I see. I'm always open to correction. I lived in Toronto in the early 90's (I am back in Europe for a Lon time now). I was just relating MY experience, but, being European, I related it to Marie Antoinette as the saying is still used to this day, even in Germany as a polite way of saying F them.
Aaaanyway, in Toronto, I first took it as an insult (as I am very obviously not Mediterranian looking) ,but then by asking Portugese/Italian what they meant, THAT generation didn't even seem to know what mungie cake even meant beyond a fair skinned English speaker. The whole thing baffled me and I found it....crude. And now for the past 20 years, when my countrymen ask what Toronto is like, that unfortunately has been one of my top 3 go to stories.
Thanks for the insight, I can add that to my story now.

[–] marcosmarinho33 9 years ago

You sounded very easily offendable to me.

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

No, I never said I was offended....I don't know where you picked that up from. Actually, being German, it is quite the opposite. You seem to have not traveled western Europe, but, lol, Germans are well known for not being offended but being very judgemental of how other country's folk behave. It's just an unkind trait of ours.
I was saying that unfortunately, I took it as more of a reflection of
the Mediterraneans in Canada. So
when I got back to Germany, I'm sad
to say that THAT particular story
of Mediterraneans in Canada was one
of my top 3 to tell my country
folk for 25 years.
That's all.

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

By the way, I pick up that you may be ESL as I am and it's offended, not offend able. Lol, my German to English auto correct refuses to even type your word ;)

[–] johnston.scot 9 years ago

Way off point, I know....

"Easily offended" is the standard, idiomatic phrase to describe someone who takes offense easily, but "easily offendable" works also. "Offendable" may not appear in every dictionary, but (a) it seems to be in the OED and (b) it's an acceptable (if you will) instance of forming an adjective by attaching "able" to the end of an appropriate verb. You can say "that wall is easily climbable," whether or not "climbable" appears in the dictionary.

FWIW, I think the "easily offendable" characterization arose from your observation that you "first took it as an insult." It may not be exactly the same thing, but - applying a weird sort of transitive technique:
- "I took it as an insult" means about the same thing as "I was insulted" and
- "I was insulted" is in at least the same territory as "I was offended."

A more tidy way to express the original thought might have been, "At first I thought it was intended as an insult." That way, at least you're talking about what the sayer was getting at rather than your own reaction.

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

Thank you!
The one thing I find very difficult with English is that there are, for example, 5 ways to say the same thing. And tons of different languages have the same complaint. Also the lack of feminine and masculine ways of wording things.
Please understand that I am in no way insulting the English language as I am a huge fan of American TV and that is mostly where I learned English!
Anyway thanks for the English tips :)
I over use my computer translation app and am the first to admit it. It has become like: if it doesn't translate, it must only be a German word or saying, or the word doesn't exist. I am terribly overly dependant on my translation app :(

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

Atually I showed this to a couple of my English friends and they said:

marcosmarinho33 replied 5 days ago
You sounded very easily offendable to me.

Makes no sense and is not proper English.
They said:
I could not sound like anything because this is scribe, and offend able is not a word, it's actually 2 words and doesn't exist.
I will trust my friends, one of whom is a university professor.
Thanks you for your imputed though :)

[–] DuJen 8 years ago

I do not speak any other language but American English. How I interpreted "you sounded very easily offendable to me" is that he was saying it sounds like you are quick to get offended. In other words, he thought you were the type of person who would be easily offended by what others say. When someone adds the able ending to a word it means a person is, or does something. For example, if a person is dependable, you can depend on them. Reliable? You can rely on them. So offendable? You can offend them.