"the cake is a lie" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From the 2007 video game Portal, in which a self-aware computer, GLaDOS, lures the player into participating in dangerous experiments with the promise of cake. As the game progresses, the player discovers graffiti left by Doug Rattman, the only known scientist alive since GLaDOS killed all the others with neurotoxin, with the graffiti including the warning \"the cake is a lie\".",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "the cake is a lie",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
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          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Internet memes",
          "orig": "en:Internet memes",
          "parents": [
            "Comedy",
            "Internet",
            "Memetics",
            "Drama",
            "Computing",
            "Networking",
            "Philosophy",
            "Theater",
            "Technology",
            "All topics",
            "Art",
            "Entertainment",
            "Fundamental",
            "Culture",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Video games",
          "orig": "en:Video games",
          "parents": [
            "Games",
            "Mass media",
            "Software",
            "Recreation",
            "Culture",
            "Media",
            "Computing",
            "Human activity",
            "Society",
            "Communication",
            "Technology",
            "Human behaviour",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011 December 15, Nick Martin, “A Hit Sitcom In Just Five Easy Steps!”, in Buzz Weekly, page 6",
          "text": "The jokes are cake, and the cake is a lie — fan-service tricking nerds into watching a show designed for adults who vote Republican (Middle America!).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, James Margeson, \"The quiet assault on public education\", The Sphinx (University of Liverpool), March 2012, page 9",
          "text": "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.\""
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 November 12, J. L. Hilton, Stellarnet Prince, Carina Press, page 320",
          "text": "“One shitty leader doesn't mean the cake is a lie. One man's decisions don't invalidate everything else—the ideals, the history, the words etched in marble and the sacrifices of all the people who make the United States a just and safe place to live.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The end being pursued is unattainable or misguided; the reward promised is false."
      ],
      "id": "en-the_cake_is_a_lie-en-phrase-UB3zPS4s",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "unattainable",
          "unattainable"
        ],
        [
          "misguided",
          "misguided"
        ],
        [
          "reward",
          "reward"
        ],
        [
          "false",
          "false"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang) The end being pursued is unattainable or misguided; the reward promised is false."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "chase a rainbow"
        },
        {
          "word": "wild-goose chase"
        },
        {
          "word": "mirage"
        },
        {
          "word": "jam tomorrow"
        },
        {
          "word": "pie in the sky"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the cake is a lie"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From the 2007 video game Portal, in which a self-aware computer, GLaDOS, lures the player into participating in dangerous experiments with the promise of cake. As the game progresses, the player discovers graffiti left by Doug Rattman, the only known scientist alive since GLaDOS killed all the others with neurotoxin, with the graffiti including the warning \"the cake is a lie\".",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "the cake is a lie",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "chase a rainbow"
    },
    {
      "word": "wild-goose chase"
    },
    {
      "word": "mirage"
    },
    {
      "word": "jam tomorrow"
    },
    {
      "word": "pie in the sky"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English internet slang",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Internet memes",
        "en:Video games"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011 December 15, Nick Martin, “A Hit Sitcom In Just Five Easy Steps!”, in Buzz Weekly, page 6",
          "text": "The jokes are cake, and the cake is a lie — fan-service tricking nerds into watching a show designed for adults who vote Republican (Middle America!).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, James Margeson, \"The quiet assault on public education\", The Sphinx (University of Liverpool), March 2012, page 9",
          "text": "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.\""
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 November 12, J. L. Hilton, Stellarnet Prince, Carina Press, page 320",
          "text": "“One shitty leader doesn't mean the cake is a lie. One man's decisions don't invalidate everything else—the ideals, the history, the words etched in marble and the sacrifices of all the people who make the United States a just and safe place to live.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The end being pursued is unattainable or misguided; the reward promised is false."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "unattainable",
          "unattainable"
        ],
        [
          "misguided",
          "misguided"
        ],
        [
          "reward",
          "reward"
        ],
        [
          "false",
          "false"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang) The end being pursued is unattainable or misguided; the reward promised is false."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the cake is a lie"
}