# "Summa cum laude" graduation cake design rejected due to perceived vulgarity **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619 "2018-05-22T15:33:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/1 "2018-05-22T15:33:08Z")
[Sad sad sad.](http://www.wdam.com/story/38245333/summa-laude-publix-censors-graduation-cake) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/2 "2018-05-22T15:49:29Z")
Dibs on the slice with “cum” on it! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/3 "2018-05-22T15:50:39Z")
From the same crowd that went bonkers over the use of the term “niggardly”? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/4 "2018-05-22T16:21:28Z")
People are morons. In other news, _people are morons_. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/5 "2018-05-22T16:22:52Z")
One subtlety is that since the kid was home schooled, he didn’t know the vulgar meaning of cum until the cake didn’t spell it out. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/6 "2018-05-22T17:06:39Z")
Too bad he didn’t graduate smegma cum laude. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/7 "2018-05-22T17:07:25Z")
How does a home-schooled kid \*not \*graduate at the top of his class? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/8 "2018-05-22T17:09:15Z")
As said elsewhere - “We are living in the prequel to Idiocracy.” ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/9 "2018-05-22T17:09:29Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > How does a home-schooled kid \*not \*graduate at the top of his class? This is exactly what I came in here to say. Bet he was an only child. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/10 "2018-05-22T17:13:00Z")
It was an online system with a rude word filter that wasn’t smart enough to know Latin phrases. Kind of waters down the “people are morons” headline narrative. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/11 "2018-05-22T17:13:08Z")
I would have substituted \* with the highest distinction \* and ordered that on the cake. It is surprising a bakery wasn’t familiar with standard graduation phrases. A computer filter certainly should recognize these standard latin phrases. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/12 "2018-05-22T17:15:16Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I would have substituted \* with the highest distinction \* and ordered that on the cake. > > It is surprising a bakery wasn’t familiar with standard graduation phrases. no one ever gave me a cake when I graduated. I was expected to graduate. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/13 "2018-05-22T17:17:42Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > As said elsewhere - “We are living in the prequel to Idiocracy.” Credit to @TheRickWilson… ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/14 "2018-05-22T17:19:01Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > no one ever gave me a cake when I graduated. I was expected to graduate. But if you’d been top of your class of 60 living in a shoebox in the middle of the road, you’d have been disappointed not to be given a damp cloth to suck on. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/15 "2018-05-22T17:23:43Z")
A _shoebox_? Luxury! ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/16 "2018-05-22T17:24:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > IA computer filter certainly should recognize these standard latin phrases. I guess they just didn’t think the headline _Publix online cake ordering system omits common Latin phrase from database_ was quite so compelling. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/17 "2018-05-22T17:29:40Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > How does a home-schooled kid \*not \*graduate at the top of his class? I’m pretty sure _Summa cum laude_ doesn’t mean “top of the class.” It applies to a GPA. Or was I just whooshed here…? ---
**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:** [May 22, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/18 "2018-05-22T17:38:25Z")
Honors can be a great motivation. I wasn’t a good student. Making the Deans List meant a lot to me in college. I got a letter at the end of the semester. It’s not a high award, but I worked my ass off for it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/19 "2018-05-22T17:39:06Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I’m pretty sure _Summa cum laude_ doesn’t mean “top of the class.” It applies to a GPA. > > Or was I just whooshed here…? I understand it to mean “with highest honor,” awarded to graduates in the top 1-5% of their class. And I believe \*\* ElvisL1ves\*\* was referring to the fact that homeschooled kids tend to be in a “class” of just themselves and their siblings, if any. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/20 "2018-05-22T17:49:10Z")
Yes, and there’s also the question of how objective home-school grades and honors can ever be. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619.md?page=2)