Origin
The Cake is a Lie is an internet phenomena revolving around the PC game Portal. In the game, you are required to do numerous tasks in a research facility, guided by a computer named GlaDOS, who repeatedly mentions that following the experiment, there will be cake.
As the game progresses, the player finds messages written on the walls depicting messages from other past test subjects. One message scrawled on the walls throughout later levels reads “THE CAKE IS A LIE! THE CAKE IS A LIE! THE CAKE IS A LIE!”
You can find more info about the game Portal here. In addition, the ending credits sequence that follows the game features a song called, “still alive” which mentions the cake. The slogan “the cake is a lie” can also be found on a wall in the video game, “Hanna In a Choppa”. You can find more info about the game Portal here .
From Reference to Idiom
After the games release, “the cake is a lie” was widely popular between Portal players, but soon it spread to forums and blogs where the phrase began to take on a new meaning outside of the context of the game. People were using the phrase, “The cake is a lie”, on forums as an idiom meaning, “You are chasing after an empty, unattainable goal.” People all over the internet were saying “the cake is a lie” without even knowing what Portal was.
This usage is further illustrated in the top-voted UrbanDictionary definition for “The Cake Is a Lie.”
Excerpt From Urban Dictionary:
Roughly translates to “your promised reward is merely a fictitious motivator”. Popularized by the game “Portal” (found on Half-Life 2’s “Orange Box” game release for PC, X-Box 360, and PS3). During the game, an electronic voice encourages you to solve intricate puzzles using cake as a motivating perk. When you have “broken out” of the game’s initial testing phase (from threat of death), you find scrawls on walls of the innards of the testing center warning you that “the cake is a lie”.
Employee #1: Yo, Dave, manager says we will probably get a promotion if we meet the sales expectations for this quarter.Employee #2: Yeah, so, don’t get your hopes up on that one, Ed. The cake is a lie.
Employee #1: Really, aw crap.
Although most image macros and videos using “The Cake is a Lie” serve mainly as references to the popular video game, the idiom is used by many without requiring prior knowledge of Portal. This is illustrated in the following Tweets.
Further References
From Lurkmore:
Throughout Portal, GLaDOS, the super-computer administering the test, promises that in addition to furthering scientific advancement, the player will also be rewarded with cake upon completion of the test. Also throughout Portal, the phrase “The Cake is a Lie” is seen scrawled on walls and inside vents in a desperate and crazed manner, presumably by an earlier test-participant; one who might be trying to warn you of something. From this it can probably be inferred that GLaDOS and Aperture Science have something other than cake waiting for you at the end of the test.This meme has become extremely popular, which despite being taken directly from a videogame (which would normally make it a /v/-exclusive meme), has found its way onto various other boards such as /a/. This line is invariably chimed by users anytime a post is made by someone claiming they did anything involving a cake, with the responders steadfastly asserting that the cake was in fact a lie.
The Credit Song: Still Alive
Y.T.M.N.D
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