Maybe He Likes Feet?

When you run a restaurant in Asia, and you want to put some fancy English script on one of your display cakes, maybe you shouldn't ask the waiter you just fired to help translate.
Don't worry, Rebecca M.; I'm sure he was only kidding.
Note: Yes, this photo really was taken in a restaurant in Asia. Beyond that, I don't have any details - so let's just hope a vengeful waiter really was the culprit.
Reader Comments (79)
Maybe there was a mis-communication and it was meant to say "Happy Birthday Peter File"
I would not be surprised that someone really named themselves Pedophile. I am Asian, so I can criticize. I have seen some really weird names that my Asian brothas and sistas have chosen. In a magazine ad for a fitness/weight loss center, the client's first name was Creamy. The last name was Ho. They also like to name themselves after fruit, like Apple, Banana, or Lemon.
Wow!
Maybe it was supposed to be Loverboy?
Loverboy - boylover - pedophile?
I know that we all wear different hats, so a cake might say "Happy Birthday, Mom" or "Happy Birthday, Teacher"... but really?!?! I think this went a little too far.
It reminds me of a story I heard about a man who walked in to a local bakery in New Orleans and said, "Hey, you got any of those pedaphiles here?" when he meant to say "Hey, you got any of those petit fours here?"
Sorry, we are fresh out! :-)
I guess that's the nicest possible way to call somebody a pedophile ...
Yes, I want to believe that the cake was meant to honor some teacher or coach or Den Mother for doing great work with children, and the maker just didn't know that "pedophile" implies another kind of love of children ...
Yes, I'm going to will myself to believe that.
I once saw a children's clothing store in Saudi Arabia that was called "Fondled Child."
I cannot even conceive of what they were attempting to translate that got them to "pedophile"... O_o
WV: calinsub... Our old translator was big doofus... calinsub!
OMG! Slight error! That had to be intentional. The only name I can think of that comes remotely close to Pedophile is 'Phoebe' and there isn't even an 'l' in there. And no offense to any Phoebe's reading this.
I hope they don't call them Lady TOES in China....
Oh. My. Gawd.
WV: ambal. An ambush that takes serious balls. It's what should've been done to the Wreckerator.
i hope it was a cranky waiter-otherewise someone should be in jail
hahaha! okay, so i read this blog all the time but i never comment. of all the cakes i've seen here, somehow this is the one that really makes me say WHO WOULD MAKE THAT?!
I love how it's spelled correctly, it's just not the word they were probably going for.
Ooooohhhhh my gosh.
This is both hilarious and incredibly suspect at the same time.
XD
Wow.. not much I can say about this one. That cake looks nice until you read what it says. Ugh if it was a fired waiter boy was it ever a mistake to ask them for help lol. If not someone there will soon be fired once they realize what was written on that cake. I honestly hope that wasn't done for a customer otherwise..uh oh trouble would be comin lol.
LOL! This brings back memories of the months I lived in Bolivia, South America. The missionaries I lived with told me that the Quechua people love to give their children long names. They knew of one couple who decided to use a biblical name and searched the bible for a nice, long one. They named their son "Circumcision".
Now, now, pedophiles are people too, and even though they deserve to rot in prison and be beat to death by the other inmates doesn't mean that they should never get to have their cake and eat it too.
Single Dad Laughing
By the way, can't believe I'm just discovering your blog. LOVE it. Definitely will follow it.
You're really left wondering what this could have been mis-translated as.
"Well, the American Exchange student loves to play with the kids. What is the English word for 'child-lover'?"
BAHAHAHAHA! XD
Oh, Craig! You wouldn't believe how old I was before I discovered a pediatrician wasn't a foot doctor. There was enough Latin floating around in our house that I knew "ped" meant foot - pedals on bikes, etc. - and I simply couldn't understand how so many of my friends had bad feet and needed to visit pediatricians. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!
Anybody submit this to an Engrish website yet? Just...wow. XD
wv: parym: If you find the guy this cake was for, you definitely don't want to parym with your kid!
I've been living in Thailand for a few years and I am not surprised by this at all. I wouldn't be surprised if this was an actual Thai person's name. I've heard names like Porn or Titty Porn often. Of course knowing this doesn't take away from the funniness of the cake.
"Did I leave a sign on the cake I just delivered to the prison? I did? Oh, I'm terribly sorry -- how careless of me. You say the guys saw it before anyone on staff thought to remove it? Never mind, then..." [hangs up and walks away, whistling]
Gives a whole new meaning to 'just desserts'.
I think that every clown post should have a pedophile post directly below it. Just sayin'...
Surely that was a joke because that was just... just... just disturbing.
The translation error for "someone who loves children" seems like the most likely explanation. I could easily see a blunder like that happening to someone trying to decorate a cake in a language the decorator doesn't speak or read well.
I like the possibilities of this being a humourous translation error (reminds me of the Gerber marketing glitch I was taught in B-school: in some countries with high levels of illiteracy, they put a picture of what's inside the product on the packaging. Gerber's logo is of a baby.... they were wondering why they weren't selling much baby food).
Or, perhaps the cake was for "Peter and Phil"? Depending upon which country it was ("Asia" could be anything from Turkey to Fiji), the accent of the speaker and familiarity with a bit of English could explain this.
Those scenarios are funny... and leave me feeling sorry for the undoubtedly fired employees involved.
The other explanation I can think of -- that it was in a sex tourism district -- is just too depressing. Unless the cake's filled with glass shards, barbed wire and painful, slow-acting, irreversible and fatal poison??? That idea makes me smile :)