This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Gus LT, the lead is buried. You seem to think otherwise. My experience was scanning down the thing looking for what in the hell this had to do with a cake.
Looney Toons: I just felt that the trope name origin right there broke the flow of the article. No matter, I've put it back.
Ok, I just read this and I still don't know what the heck the relationship is between getting married and getting a cake for Christmas. I do think I get what the trope is, but could somebody explain the metaphor a bit more plainly?
Lale: No matter how tasty a literal Christmas cake is, no one wants it after December 25th. No matter how attractive a woman is, no one wants to marry her after she's 25.
Johnny E: On that basis, a Christmas Cake is any unmarried woman over 25, attractive or not. So why is it used to refer to any attractive woman over 25, single or otherwise? That implies there's something surprising about a 27-year old being attractive, which seems fairly ridiculous. Also, since I've started pulling the thread, where I'm from you start eating christmas cake on Christmas, and carry on 'til New Years at least.
Satanic Hamster: Wow, that image is just to too big for the wiki to handle. It's no wonder why anyone trying to format the text can never get it right.
Tannhaeuser: I think this trope could use a lot of splitting. Does it refer to all desperate old maids, or just those who are still fairly young (say thirty-forty) and attractive, but are still fail to find a husband, or even to those who may not even want a husband but are being nagged to marry by the people around them? And what is the connection to Maiden Aunt? Shouldn't this be defined a bit more narrowly?
By the way, is this picture better? I am still not sure if Katisha belongs to the trope or not, but I couldn't resist the combination of Japanese, Old Maid, and red, white, and green Christmas colors.
Anonymous Mc Cartneyfan: Katisha is perfect! And yes, we need to narrow this trope. Maiden Aunt covers old ladies; therefore, a Christmas Cake should be 50 or under — over 25, past the expiration date, clearly too old to be young, but not so old that she can get the AARP discount. And it should refer to ladies who are still on the market; whether it be by their own will or that of their meddling Nakama is irrelevant, since it doesn't affect the taste of the cake much.
Vulpy: What about B.T. from .hack//SIGN? It's been a while, and the series had a lot in the manual, but I seem to recall the reason she was a bitter Manipulative Bitch was because she was in modeling until she got "too old," even though she'd still be considered young and attractive to just about everyone. (And she lives alone, but with a winning personality like that...)
