Thursday
May132010
Jen GraduRants
May 13, 2010 It's getting about that time again. You know the one, don't you?
Thaaat's right! The one where Wreckerators wrestle with the seemingly simple "Congratulations."For some reason, various unholy alliances of the words "graduation" and "congratulations" keep popping up:
"Gratulation"
"Gradulation"
"Congraduations"(Your soul dies a little more with each one of these, doesn't it?)
"Whatever this says."
"Happy Graduations"?!?Oh. Wait. Actually, that's almost correct. I wonder if someone forgot the "L."
There's a theory floating around that some of these word mash-ups are intentional; a "cute" misspelling to save the decorator from writing out the overly long and excessively complicated "congratulations graduate."
To this I say: [rude noise].
Good grief, people, you're celebrating an educational achievement! This is not the time for "cutesy" misspellings! So just write out "Congrats" and be done with it! That's not so hard, is it?!?
Excuse me. [sound of head hitting desk repeatedly] This may be a while.
In the meantime, enjoy your cake with the bottle of urine/beer on it.
(Either way, someone's getting pissed.) (Because in Britain "pissed" = "drunk." See? I'm even funny in different languages.*)
Shelby, Angie M., Briana G., D.H., Pam G., & Anony M., Gradu...Congalu...Gradcon...Uh. Good job!
* Yes. We know.
Reader Comments (162)
Every year I see these and hang my head in shame for the spring I worked in a bakery when I was about 20. I must have wrote "Congradulations!" on about a dozen cakes before someone pointed it out. I just pretended it was intentional and underlined the "grad", so everyone thought it was cute.
I'm sorry, funny as this post was, the funniest thing about it was the ad for the South Beach Diet Cookbook next to the pictures of all the cakes.
WV: projdser - better than am amateur jdser!
ConGaadulalions?
*giggles* Wow.
I wonder if Michelle is graduating from multiple things??? Thus the "Happy Graduations". :)
"Gratulation" is German, but I doubt anyone would ever write something like "Fröhliche Gratulation" on a cake. (^v^)
Hey, on that last cake, that's not a container of urine or beer, it's an Epcot and a Spaceship Earth. Or maybe a couple of bongs.
Maybe Michelle is graduating from more than one place? Then it would be right, right? sigh. no, probably not.
#5. Poor pretty blue and white flowers, and nice scroll work. You never realized that you were being applied to the dirtiest toilet in Scotland did you. It must be Scotland, 'cause that looks like Gaelic to me.
WV: kinde. Are these cakes for graduation parties? kinde.
But is "congraduations" a malamanteau?
I wondered if graduations meant multiple people graduating. But wouldn't it be graduates Then again, Congraduates would be a terrible pun.
What I find vexing is people say "Congrats", which is the abbreviated form of congratulations, but people spell out the full word as congradulations. Weird eh?
Google Chrome has spell-check now, so what excuse remains for the chronic non-spell checker asides from indifference?
Maybe "Michelle" is the mother of multiples that are graduating? heh
Oh.My.Goodness. I am trying to figure out if lions are "congratulated" in cake #5. On another note, I was so proud to see your book featured in the May's Reader's Digest! *Congradulations* for the well-deserved recognition!
Oh gor blimey, missus - a bottle of beer ain't wot I saw, nudge nudge wink wink ;-)
Well at least they make good roses! I'm sadly a bit out of practice on that skill.
It looks like someone with a bad case of mudbutt sat on #5.
Also...Gigi is my kid's name. Sad face.
nearly pissed meself larfin'
I work at a college. Not too many can spell congratulations right here either.
And all you party poopers! Quit telling us that the last cake is for a chemistry major. We'd much rather think it was a bong and a beaker of urine!
OH wow! Thanks Jen! I will be graduating from college on Saturday and I couldn't be more happier! To keep away from wrecks like this I'm making cupcakes! YUM lol
On the last one, I thought it was a women's bedroom friend and, well, a bong. I guess it's chemistry stuff? I think the former is more accurate in most cases.
Am I the only one that thinks Ashley's cake looks like it has a "marital aid" on it? Albeit one with an antenna for a remote control.
Er......Why is there a black hole on cake #5? If you eat a piece, where will you end up? I'm thankful I will never find out!
that looks like a bong! how'd she gradulate?
Except for the questionable green oil slicks on the first one and the plastic happy face flotsam on the other (well, and the 'chem major'? cake), these are actually your standard "oh that's a nice cake" cakes. Simple, tasty, thoughtful.
It's when someone with a less than hearty grasp on spelling and/or grammar (and also maybe a bit of a shaky grip) takes up a piping bag that these become wrecks. It's like magic.
I think we should have a telethon. "Don't let innocent cakes become wrecks. Donate today to the 'Training for Cake Decorators' fund and eliminate these wrecks for good."
Congladulalions!!!
-Sarah at www.theoddbookout.blogspot.com
I'm with one or two people who've already said it: I've seen the word spelled incorrectly so many times that I'm beginning to second guess myself every time I have to write it out!
And we've established that the last one is a pair of flasks (with obviously some sort of urine-like substance), but as for the 'rising vapors' why does it rise up the tube in harsh, diagonal lines? Wouldn't they be wispy, wavy, or swirly lines to indicate some sort of air?
I kinda feel like some of these could have happened purposefully in an effort to humorously combine the two words that sound alike, you know, kinda like "frenemy" -- "congraduation." I think it works.
The decoration on no#6 looks like half melted vitamin e capsules plonked on icing swirls. It's probably not, but damn...
I was thinking the gold thing was a bong because the top word looks like smoke coming out the top.
The second cake, "Gratulation"? At first glance I thought the flowers were a bloody hand print. YIKES!
It's nice to know the decorators got "A"s in Penmanship, even though they got "Fs" in Spelling.
Whaddaya mean, "Whatever this is"? It's a Spanish saint's name: San Geadulaleona. ;)
Yeah, people's spelling would be bad enough without the unfortunate combination of similar words in "Congratulations, Graduates!"
Best spelling test I ever saw was one that deliberately threw together words with confusable spelling just to make it harder: "Which of the following words is incorrect? Succeed/Recede/Proceed/Concede/None of the Above."
My daughter is anxiously awaiting to see her graduation cake in hopes that it IS a wreck.subc
Ok....as a grad student in chemistry, my thoughts with that last cake were as follows:
"What are those things?!?! Oh crap! I think it's supposed to be lab glassware. Maybe?"
I'm still not sure what they are!
The last cake with "CONGRADS" comes from how horribly people mispronounce "congraTulations" by saying "congraDulations." I think we have Bob Sackett to thank for that.
That last one with the pee beer on it...ewww. lol
Seriously, how many times have they had to spell out congrats, or graduation? You would think after a few hundred times they would get it right.
I'm hitting my head on the desk over here too... some of these are really unbelievable.
Hm.. I'll take a crack at it: ConGradulaliono or Con(Guiness harp)radulaliono.
-CaseyCannolis
ha!!!!!!
British slang does not constitute as a different language. LOL. just sayin'.
Are there any ProGaadulalions? Do they get a cake?
Wow, humour that crosses oceans. I thank you! xxx
The one where Wreckerators wrestle with the seemingly simply "Congratulations."
Seemingly simply?
Jen, another addition to your idea of flash cards.
I always laugh at these cakes and descriptions, but "I'm even funny in different languages" actually made me cry tears of laughter. Tears.
Wow, thanks. And ConGaadulalions on your multilingual hilariousness.
HILARIOUS! It's called spell check or grab a dictionary. It would have taken 2 minutes to look up the spellings and make sure they are correct.... or at least go with the oh-so-easy slang way of: CONGRATS!!!!
check out my blog: nikkiscakery.blogspot.com
LOL THis is okay my friend went to Bandanas the other day and of all the parts to screw up she wrote Bandanaise? WHy!?!?
(P.S. Gibbly, I still love you!BUt your spelling sucks. YOu should do cakes.)
The cynic in me wonders how many of the recipients realized there was an error (other than the person who sent the photos to CW)?
I'm with Anonymous @ 11:25-- while "getting the message across" is nice, if someone wants to be taken seriously, they have to be able to look intelligent on paper (ie good grammar, spelling, etc). While grammar modules in school are not fun, the consequences are even worse. When I hired students for their first career type job, I had them do a written exam-- I could train them on the topic, but I needed basic skills. It was scary how many couldn't get their resume right, let alone the timed exam .
PS I saw a hand in the flowers on the second cake too. And I agree with others about the lovely scrollwork on the Vortex cake (ConGaadululions? really??), and the script on Michelle's cake.
WV Midas: Jen has a midas touch with her photo captions!
The icing on the second cake is so ashamed of its bad spelling that it's trying to run away!
The "beer" reminded me...
When my daughter graduated from high school last year, the principal gave the 400 graduates an engraved 16 oz "drinking" glass (with a handle) as a gift.
A BEER mug!! Hahahaha! Apparently he was pretty embarrassed after the kids pointed it out, and made sure to stress that they were for sodas! Everyone I polled agreed it was clearly a beer mug.
Alex
Wv: forphoty - That gift would be appropriate forphoty year olds.
Also, I have volunteered for a blog (wetwebmedia) that answers questions for aquarists (usually fairly well educated geeks if I might stereotype - hang around in ana aquarium store).
Anyway, the only price for the free advice was that their question had to be spelled and structured in proper English. (Exceptions for those in non-English countries and the handicapped or under 10 groups)
If not well composed, we answered to please resubmit. If minor, we corrected before publishing (with a reprimand). Those of us who know better HAVE to take a stand.
Alex Again. :)
Wv: emeni - I don't care if I make an emeni by correcting their spelling and grammar.