# What is this cake trying to say? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007 "2014-10-11T00:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/1 "2014-10-11T00:22:38Z")
There’s a pretty funny (IMHO) Buzzfeed link that shows 24 decorated cakes that went wrong. What do you think #5 was trying to say? I can’t parse it. > **[24 People Who Shouldn't Be Allowed To Decorate Cakes](https://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/24-people-who-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-decorate-cakes?s=mobile#4izvzff)** > > There is no autocorrect in real life. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/2 "2014-10-11T00:59:28Z")
Bennigan’s was/is? a restaurant/bar. The one in my city closed in the 90’s. Google search for Bennigan’s finds this. Bogie’s Bar and Grill (formerly Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern) ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/3 "2014-10-11T01:03:31Z")
Those are all great. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/4 "2014-10-11T01:06:18Z")
I remember it as well but I don’t think that’s what the person ordering the cake was actually going for. AFAICT, the author of the article was just guessing. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/5 "2014-10-11T01:26:16Z")
My best guess is that it’s two different phrases: “40 forever”, which I suspect was what was supposed to be written on the cake, and “Begian’s getting”, which I’m guessing is a direction for pickup. If the order was taken over the phone, Begian could be a badly mangled spelling of someone’s name. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/6 "2014-10-11T01:31:31Z")
Those cakes are all lies. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/7 "2014-10-11T01:40:58Z")
I think it was supposed to say “40 Begins Forgetting” - an “over the hill” reference. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/8 "2014-10-11T01:52:01Z")
> [@Chicago\_Faucet](#): > > I think it was supposed to say “40 Begins Forgetting” - an “over the hill” reference. I read it as “40 begins forever” but what you said makes sense. forgetting=forever getting. Toss in some misspelled words and a ‘here comes an S’ apostrophe and you have a cake that doesn’t even sorta make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/9 "2014-10-11T02:30:36Z")
Then there was the time someone ordered a cake that said: YOU’RE NOT GETTING OLDER HAPPY BIRTHDAY! YOU’RE GETTING BETTER But they ended up with: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! YOU’RE NOT GETTING OLDER ON TOP YOU’RE GETTING BETTER ON THE BOTTOM ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/10 "2014-10-11T02:37:19Z")
\ Wait…the headline says 24 \*People \*Who Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Decorate Cakes, but all the pictures are cakes, not people! \ ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/11 "2014-10-11T02:40:18Z")
[Cake Wrecks](http://cakewrecks.squarespace.com/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/12 "2014-10-11T03:00:44Z")
> [@Chicago\_Faucet](#): > > I think it was supposed to say “40 Begins Forgetting” - an “over the hill” reference. I was thinking “40 begins forever forgetting,” but same basic idea. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/13 "2014-10-11T06:15:53Z")
Or it could be what was meant to be written on the person’s pants: “Don’t Open 40 Inside”. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/14 "2014-10-11T07:45:32Z")
I think they were going for “Life begins at 40” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-cake-trying-to-say/701007/15 "2014-10-11T12:30:00Z")
I wonder if “Happy Bathday” was decorated by someone raised in Africa. Many Africans speak English with an amazingly profound avoidance of any trace of an “r” sound. It goes way beyond “non-rhotic” – at least typical British and southern American accents add some r-_coloring_ to their vowels. But typically not people whose first language is a subsaharan African one (I know that includes a lot of disparate languages). “Work,” for example, often sounds exactly the same as “wek.”