the cake is a lie

== English == === Etymology === 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. === Pronunciation === === Phrase === the cake is a lie (Internet slang) The end being pursued is unattainable or misguided; the reward promised is false. 2012, James Margeson, "The quiet assault on public education", The Sphinx (University of Liverpool), March 2012, page 9: The assumption that a degree will vastly improve future earnings is increasingly misleading. By their very nature high paid jobs are exclusive and limited in number. "The cake is a lie." For more quotations using this term, see Citations:the cake is a lie. ==== See also ====