Today is my older sister’s birthday. She’s come a long way…
To honor this occasion, I thought I would give my Big Sister a uniquely Taiwanese Birthday Present. In my meager Taiwan existence, it has become extremely clear that there is one birthday custom which MUST be honored: a trip to the KTV for a round of [hanzi]快樂鳥日å[/hanzi] ([pinyin]kuai4le4niao3ri4zi4[/pinyin]) by [hanzi]康康[/hanzi] (Kankan). Literally translated, it means “Happy Bird’s Day” and is supposed to be a humorous way of mocking the way Chinese speakers pronounce “Happy Birthday.” The is entirely in Taiwanese, except for the middle where Kankan addresses the Birthday Boy or Girl and assures him/her that there is nothing to worry about because, at the very least, he/she has him to sing for them.
This really gets the Taiwanese going and, I must admit, is very catchy. My Taiwanese isn’t nearly good enough to understand most of it, but it’s still a pretty good song. So, without further here, Happy Birthday/Bird’sday, Karyn!
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