# "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:** 4
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/61 "2018-05-24T03:12:51Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > People should just stop writing shit on cakes, it causes way too many problems. Like some of these, many of which are NSFW? For that reason, I’ll spoiler the link. [http://www.cakewrecks.com/](http://www.cakewrecks.com/) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/62 "2018-05-24T03:31:30Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Wow, I had never ever heard of Latin honors for high school grads before this. Nor have I. And now I feel deprived - I was in the top 5% of my high school class. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/63 "2018-05-24T05:45:14Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Or, more likely, an Indian doughnut with cumin and cinnamon 🙂 > > We had a communication failure at work many years ago, where the client’s email filter automatically discarded any mail that contained the words “do the right thing”. An Indian doughnut with cumin in Chorlton-cum -Hardy, or Cumbria or Cumbernauld. I know I’m going to feel stupid soon, but I don’t understand what is wrong with “do the right thing” . ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/64 "2018-05-24T08:02:39Z")
Yes it did say summa cum laude, but to be fair, it did have a picture of a massive cock on there too. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/65 "2018-05-24T09:09:55Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > **“If I knew you were cumin’ I’d have baked a cake”** > > I am sorry, Eileen Barton. > [@Ludovic](#): > > Ewww, cake with cumin in it. Haven’t you ever heard of spice cake? It’s yummy! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/66 "2018-05-24T09:54:00Z")
Huh, there’s a chain of Christian bookstores in South Africa called **CUM Books**. It was founded in 1939 by Afrikaans speakers, and CUM stands for Christelike Uitgewers Maatskappy - Christian Publishers Company. They pronounce it ‘coom’. They’ve never bothered to change it, though, and you can see the name prominently displayed in many shopping malls in South Africa. [Images](https://www.google.com/search?q=cum+books&tbm=isch) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/67 "2018-05-24T14:12:25Z")
I hope [these guys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kum_%26_Go) never need a corporate cake. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/68 "2018-05-24T15:03:33Z")
Serious question: _When_ did “cum” become a dirty word? Or, when did the sexual connotation become common enough that it “tainted” the innocent usage of “cum” in a significant number of people’s minds? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/69 "2018-05-24T18:30:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Serious question: _When_ did “cum” become a dirty word? Or, when did the sexual connotation become common enough that it “tainted” the innocent usage of “cum” in a significant number of people’s minds? The sexual meaning of “come” goes back to the 1600s. I’m not sure when “cum” became a common spelling, but I recall it from at least the late 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/70 "2018-05-24T20:53:19Z")
Were there any jokes at the time of the 1973 or 1983 release of “Cum on Feel the Noize”? I was too young to have heard them if there were. Or was it simply an alternate spelling that sometimes, but hardly always, meant something sexual? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/71 "2018-05-24T23:14:29Z")
They should have ordered the “irrumabo ego vos” cake; sounds less problematic. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/72 "2018-05-24T23:53:25Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Were there any jokes at the time of the 1973 or 1983 release of “Cum on Feel the Noize”? 1983, yeah. In fact my sheltered lifestyle prevented me from knowing the slang meaning of “cum”, which my friends were more than happy to clue me in on. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/73 "2018-05-25T01:55:08Z")
I was going to make the “summa come loudly” joke but someone else beat me to it. As far as the "dean’s list " goes, I like to tell folks I made the dean’s _other_ list. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/74 "2018-05-25T02:45:59Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > I think **dseid** meant the event should have alerted a customer service representative involved in the cake-decorating process to intervene and apply a sanity check to the software’s moronic response. > > If so, that would be a good idea, except I doubt the process would have a CSR, because customer service costs money – that’s why the process was automated to begin with. Actually I had understood the line that she was told something, didn’t see how that policy would apply to her order, finished giving the instructions, and the order was accepted. And then the software did its edit, without triggering a notification that such was being done. The software should reject a cake that does not pass its filter and only decorate it with hyphens for the censored word if such has been explicitly sign off as acceptable to the customer. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/75 "2018-05-25T08:45:01Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > 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. Reminds me of a FOAF who ordered, via an online system, a custom-engraved gold pendant with something like “Chris & Sally” on it - when it turned up, it actually said: Chris & Sally ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/76 "2018-05-25T09:07:56Z")
I see the home-schooled “Summa cum” kid had a 4.89 GPA. Rather impressive, no? Nobody at my high school broke the 4.0 barrier. “Christian-based home schools” must be the way to go! MAGA!! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/77 "2018-05-25T09:54:30Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I was going to make the “summa come loudly” joke but someone else beat me to it. As far as the "dean’s list " goes, I like to tell folks I made the dean’s _other_ list. The Double-Secret Probation list? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/78 "2018-05-25T12:32:03Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I see the home-schooled “Summa cum” kid had a 4.89 GPA. Rather impressive, no? Nobody at my high school broke the 4.0 barrier. “Christian-based home schools” must be the way to go! MAGA!! Lots of schools (real schools, accredited & everything, with their own building & teachers who aren’t related to the students) have moved to 5.0 based GPA. No idea why. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/79 "2018-05-25T12:33:55Z")
Grade inflation. The first ones got their mediocre students to pass for good ones, but eventually schools down the pipeline from them will start correcting for it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619/80 "2018-05-25T12:36:18Z")
It’s also a way to give bonus points for taking harder classes, AP or not, by giving them higher weighting factors. Without that, someone who took only the easiest classes can have a higher GPA than someone who took the challenging ones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summa-cum-laude-graduation-cake-design-rejected-due-to-perceived-vulgarity/814619.md?page=5)