# It's not a graduation, it's a \*culmination\*, why? And "ill" for "sick"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658 "2013-06-22T21:47:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658/21 "2013-06-24T14:13:29Z")
I’ve never heard culmination. We had kindergarten graduation and eighth grade graduations. (Chicago suburbs, 1950s) In the small town in which I now live there are no ceremonies until the end of high school. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658/22 "2013-06-26T23:15:35Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Give the kids a diploma and a degree in 5th Grade Studies if the word graduation is bothering you. Exactly. You are graduating. You passed the test (whether a specific test or not) necessary to move on to the next grade. Not everyone does. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658/23 "2013-06-28T00:06:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Exactly. You are graduating. You passed the test (whether a specific test or not) necessary to move on to the next grade. Not everyone does. This is how I’ve always thought of it. It’s like a “graduated” cylinder in a lab. You graduate…up to the next grade. And they do give you a diploma of sorts when you graduate elementary or middle school. Long ago when more districts used K8-4 schemes, the grade school diploma might actually says that the student can now attend high school, or that he/she doesn’t need to pass an examination first. I found Linus Pauling’s grade school [diploma from 1914](http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/coll/pauling/awards/1914h.1-01.html). It’s interesting to recall that the eighth grade was probably as far as most people went in 1914. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658/24 "2013-06-28T00:41:58Z")
I suggest the correct term should be “rounding.” It’s a “rounding ceremony.” You round first, second … fifth grade… eighth grade… power slide into twelfth and it’s a home run! Graduation! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658/25 "2013-06-28T19:40:16Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Anyway, I agree with the hyper-correction theory – it is fairly common, in my experience, for people to take it into their head that a less commonly-used word is somehow “better” than the idiomatic, conversational alternative. I suspect the same may be true of some other divergent word-pairs, e.g. “autumn”/“fall”. Aside from writers and speakers who hailed from overseas, I don’t recall hearing anyone say “autumn” for “fall” other than primary grade teachers. To this day, if I stop to think about it, that word reminds me of my kindergarten teacher when she was about to read us a “poim”. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658/26 "2013-06-28T20:08:23Z")
My youngest grandson just underwent a promotion ceremony, from pre-K to K. I am sure I had a graduation ceremony after 8th grade and HS. After that, we had commencements. And McGill confers degrees at a convocation. (As well, they make us emeritus at a convocation.) As for “sick” well to some people at least it means throwing up. However, I always used it rather than “ill”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-not-a-graduation-its-a-culmination-why-and-ill-for-sick/661658.md?page=1)