Not a typo
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Photograph of a scrumptious birthday cake presented to me on March 25, 2023:
Made in a New York Chinese pastry shop and presented to me by a student with the given name Zihan.
Selected readings
- "Victor Mair's birthday book" (3/29/13)
- "'Happy Birthday' melody formed from tones" (11/5/22)
- "Recognizing half of a character and half of a word" (5/2/21) — detailed discussion of the phonological, lexicographical, morphological, graphical, and other reasons why the character 菡 is customarily mispronounced as hán rather than hàn
jin defang said,
April 7, 2025 @ 8:18 am
making me hungry long before lunchtime. Was it a carrot cake? Orthography far less important than taste!
Victor Mair said,
April 7, 2025 @ 8:22 am
Yes, a carrot cake.
Nothing beats a premium carrot cake.
Robert Coren said,
April 7, 2025 @ 9:29 am
I can't read that initial letter as a Z. Looks like a K to me.
(It also took me a moment to decide that the second line didn't really say "Pairthday".)
Terry K. said,
April 7, 2025 @ 12:40 pm
Looks like a V as Victor. Though why it says Vihan I don't understand.
Miggy A. said,
April 7, 2025 @ 1:15 pm
I'm confused. Was the photograph presented to you or the cake ? If Zihan gave you the cake for your birthday, it seems like he's wishing himself a happy birthday
katarina said,
April 7, 2025 @ 3:06 pm
Did Zihan explain Vihan? Was the cake made by a Chinese pastry shop?
JimG said,
April 7, 2025 @ 3:11 pm
Apparently a chain of faulty orthography. This is why I would have printed
V i c t o r
(or accompanied the script with it) when I ordered the cake.
Happy Birthday was a known string of letters for the decorator.
And I have seen cakes decorated as
Happy
Birthday,
Victor
with (v i c t o r) as a fourth line
I sympathize with the decorator. I would never dare to order a cake with my carefully drawn characters. I have enough trouble trying to write my Chinese name consistently and correctly.
Victor Mair said,
April 7, 2025 @ 6:22 pm
@katarina
No, Zihan did not explain Vihan. Yes, the cake was made by a Chinese pastry shop.
Victor Mair said,
April 7, 2025 @ 6:32 pm
@Miggy A.
Both the cake and the photograph were presented to me by Zihan.