A: Did you see that girl?

    B: Yeah. I’ve seen a lot of girls in my life, but she takes the cake.

    Note: This phrase means “to excel to the point of winning.” Sometimes it’s used to express incredulity. It is widely supposed that this phrase originated with cake-walk strutting competitions, which were commonplace in the black community of the southern United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Couples would be judged on their style in the “cake-walk,” a dance to imitate and make fun of ballroom dancing. The winners were said to have “taken the cake,” which was often the prize. The related phrase “taking the biscuit” means virtually the same, although is more often associated with surprise at a particular outcome than with victory in some enterprise.