Etymology

the cake is a lie

Today it means: The end being pursued is unattainable or misguided; the reward promised is false. Full definition →

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The story

From the video game Portal (2007), in which a self-aware computer, GLaDOS, lures the player into participating in dangerous experiments with the promise of a cake. As the game progresses, the player discovers graffiti left by the only previous test subject to survive GLaDOS' murderous scheme, including the warning the cake is a lie.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.