International Incidents
August 26, 2011 What do you get when you go into a Mexican bakery, where they speak English, and ask them - in Spanish - to write "Happy Birthday" in English?
I mean, besides confused.
You get this:
;)
Which, if I remember my 1st grade Spanish, means "The Happy Complaining Eagles."
Wait.
I took French.
[Googling]
Ah. "Happy Birthday English!" I guess that does make more sense.
Or...
What do you get when you go into a Chinese bakery and ask them to write "Congratulations Ian!" in both English and Chinese?
;)
You get some reeeally enthusiastic Englrsh chunese, that's what.
Hey, I'm actually starting to feel a bit better about U.S. bakeries! Maybe we're not the only wreckerators out there. Maybe there are places even worse off in the wreckage department!
;)
Never mind. Feeling's gone.
Thanks to our wrecky ambassadors Chris L., Mary S., and Kendra P. for fostering international unity. In wrecks.
Reader Comments (55)
The last one gets points for nice handwriting though. :)
Today is m birthday and I love to travel so I'm glad that you have honored my day by putting up these (probably) delicious international "incidents"! Thanks for always being hilarious!!
I am a little in love with the green question mark on the bottom of the last cake. Freudian slip? Or intentional expression of wreckfusion?
We'll never know...
At least the Chinese one spelled "Congratulations" correctly.
In this case, I can't help but think of the "State of Texas" as being a spell that is cast on someone.
Hopefully on this book tour no one will cast the "State of Texas" on you!
No no no, they got that last one right. See the squiggle in the center bottom? That's a question mark. And speaking as someone living here, I can assure you that the state of Texas is questionable.
Aw, I haven't the heart.
These bakers know more than one language, how wonderful it that?
mocking
A wreck in any language is still a wreck!
First cake: It must have been an English person's birthday.
By the way, that icing color is a popular one in Mexico.
Second cake: How did this Chinese baker manage to spell "Congratulations" correctly, when none of the English-speaking Americans seem to be able to spell it?
Third cake: The three-year old who piped the border has remarkably neat handwriting for her age.
... And is Ben a girl, or does "her" refer to the person who ordered the cake?
The writing on the last cake is beautiful, even if it's wrecky. The border, however...well, that must have been done during the East Coast earthquake. Or possibly after the wreckorator had a few too many.
Put the state of Texas on it for her!
Woooooohooo!
WHat girl could resist that?
Esp. considering Texas size, and all that.
When did Pepto Bismol become the new icing? That first cake wouldn't give anyone a tummyache for eating the whole thing. The pepto would cure it.
I don't get it.
Hey, Ingles can celebrate her birthday any way she wants, damn it!
Julie
ilikebeerandbabies.com
I cannot get over how many people screw up the notes vs. message. I mean really??? You thought they wanted you to just tell him that he was supposed to have the state of Texas and not actually give it to him?!?!
Oh, and either Ben's parents really wish she was a boy, or they just called Ben a her.....
"Drop page. DID I JUST DO A COMMERCIAL?"
"Put the State of Texas On It For Her" is Texas' state motto. It's on their licence plates and everything.
While I'm at it--Oh Lily, that's a good one!
At least the roses one the first one were pretty!
The border on that last one looks like those little nylon strips you get at craft stores to make potholders out of ... I made a lot of those in my after-school program. I have to agree that the handwriting is nice though!
OMG THE WRECKINESS IS SPREADING D:
The second one leaves me wondering if the message was supposed to be "Congratulations Ian!" in English and Chinese, or just "Congratulations!" in English and Chinese?
New pick-up line:
"I'll put the state of Texas on it for ya, honey!"
It's like a whole world of potential wreckiness has opened to us. How many different ways can you misspell "cumpleaños"? If you're running out of space, do you write "Felíz Dias-de-C" instead? Do naked mohawk baby carrot jockeys have a deep cultural significance in parts of mainland China? Can a Cake Wrecks / Hanzi Smatter crossover be far away?
Considering how HOT it's been in Texas, they could have just put a huge yellow sun w/ the word TEXAS
They could have just melted the cake with the word Texas sliding off the edges. It's supposed to be 102 degrees again today before they put the heat index on it.
You put the State of Texas on it
You take the State of Texas off
You put the State of Texas on it
And you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around
And that's what it's all about !
The first cake is so weird when you know Spanish. Normally, I'd be rolling my eyes at the mark over the 'i' (should be, "feliz" instead of "felíz"). But I'm currently giggling like a twelve-year-old.
Because, really, a little diacritical mark can change everything:
Inglés = English
Ingles = groins.
Well... I suppose groins have birthdays too. Now I think there are millions of groins feeling underappreciated because they have never had a birthday cake.
I was going to be secondarily offended (that's when you get offended on someone else's behalf) about the Texas jokes, until someone in Texas complained about 102 being 'hot'. Speaking as a Southern California snob (which I'm *so* not), 102 simply means going outside without a jacket.
@MelindaB, it's just too soon for more earthquake jokes. You have to give people a chance to rest their abdominal muscles. (ba-dup!)
#1 That's like the standard bit about asking someone to say something in Italian (as an example, not picking on Italians or deliberately leaving out other nationalities) and they say, "something in Italian" in what passes for an Italian accent.
'The Happy Complaining Eagles' would be the perfect name for a tribute band.
#2 They left the exclamation point off the third line!
#3 Obviously, the wreckorator was trying to be helpful: "Anybody knows the state of Texas won't fit on this cake. I'll quote the instructions so that people will know I wasn't the doofus."
The question mark is the international symbol of wreckorators everywhere -- it perfectly and succinctly expresses the concept, 'what?'
Wondering how many complaints you're going to get about the phrase "Englrsh chunese" ...
[Editor's note- I would hope we wouldn't since that's what on the cake. But since when has that ever stopped anyone?]
Ummm they spelled Cumpleanos wrong... *sighing*
Those are classics. And they're such nice-looking cakes.
You know, every day I laugh and laugh at these. I just can't get over these incredible errors on these cakes. I would love to be at the counter when someone comes in to pick up any of these. Do they not look at it first and pay and walk away with it? Oh, these absolutely make my day!! :-)
@Ana
You don't get your groin a birthday cake? I thought everyone did that!?!
Although in retrospect, if not everyone does, it would explain why noone shows up to my birthday parties anymore...
call me crazy but id eat every cake on here. Richard from Amish Stories
Can't convince myself that the Chunese one doesn't say " Congratulabions : 1an! Engbish chunese ...
Congratulations!
Ian!
Englrsh & Chunese
They! Should Have!
Put Exclamation Points!
After the Englrsh & Chunese!
Too!
(You know, just to stay consistent.)
Maybe it was an Amish bakery and they call everybody "English."
Well, I feel much better now about the cakes I just made for my sister and cousin's birthday party tomorrow. They may not quite be Sunday Sweets material (especially since the cream cheese frosting for one of them somehow turned out lumpy) but I managed to at least spell Happy Birthday properly in both French and English. :P
If you like it then you should've put the state of Texas on it
If you like it then you should've put the state of Texas on it
If you like it then you should've put the state of Texas on it
Oh oh oh. oh oh oh...
- from "Single Texas Ladies"
the cakes taste the same no matter how it's spelled
Hope Ben made it down the road to Texas despite the earthquake, or the hurricane (whatever got that hand a-shakin') humming the song "A Boy Named Sue". And no, the state won't fit on a cake.
I'm with Joel. I don't think Ian is a person. I think it's a messed up Englush werd.
You've probably seen this or been sent this many times, but its new to me so here:
http://wins.failblog.org/2011/04/24/epic-win-photos-cake-design-win/#comments
I think the pun is hilarious and the cake is well done.
JL
{Editor's note- Yeah, it's fantastic. We actually did a post about it here- http://cakewrecks.squarespace.com/home/2011/4/30/spot-the-hidden-mickey.html
Wreck On!]
nice cakes, don't worry about names!
[Editor's note- Hi Sure! I took the liberty of removing the spam portion of your comment. I hope you don't mind. Best, john (the hubby of Jen)]
On the plus side, everything on that last cake is spelled correctly.
Today is my birthday and you made me feel pretty awesome about my cake! No words at all, so hopefully nothing will be mispelled! yay! better than the professional! lol
well, we've had all sorts of torso cakes so it was time for a groin cake...I guess. at least, it wasn't an actual groin so I'm going with WIN!!
Well, perhaps the Ingles grocery store chain (found in parts of the southeastern US) was celebrating its anniversary.
Is that ribbon of seaweed from international waters? Ick!
When i lived in Brussels back in '78-79, someone called a bakery to order a birthday cake and explained about writing happy birthday on it with the name of the individual and gave their address. They picked up the cake and it was all there in frosting, including the address!
Am I the only one who is amazed that Wreckerator #2 misspelled both "English" and "Chinese" but managed to spell "Congratulations" correctly? How did *that* happen?
I wouldn't trust a random cake decorator to accurately draw Texas. That cake was destined to be a wreck no matter what.