Summa cum Laude .... censored

[frkelly74]

I cut and pasted this article. There are pictures and more comments. I was just saying to the cashier at Home Depot that we all work for the computers these days.



UM8 hours ago
Publix Censors ‘Summa Cum Laude’ on Graduation Cake Order

The grocery giant Publix is taking heat online for censoring a message on a cake that was meant to celebrate a new graduate’s academic achievement of summa cum laude status. Cara Koscinski ordered the cake online after her son Jacob graduated from his home-school program in Charleston, South Carolina, with a 4.89 grade-point average. Publix apparently edited out “cum”—in this context the Latin word for “with”—since it was deemed too profane on its website’s algorithm. Jacob was “absolutely humiliated,” Koscinski told The Washington Post. “It was unbelievable. I ordered the special graduation edition cake. I can’t believe I’m the first one to ever write ‘Summa Cum Laude’ on a cake.” A Publix store manager reportedly offered to remake the cake, but Koscinski said she declined.


READ IT AT WASHINGTON POST

[osteodoc08]

Well. Things happen. They offered to remake the cake and or correct the mistake. Unfortunately that’s the disgusting filthy world we live in. Reasons why could be the source of a long heated debate. We have filters here. I’m sure they also block out the shorthand for Richard as well even though as a name it’s harmless and once a common name. If the person was absolutely humiliated by this, well, they’re likely a snowflake.

[MyFlatline]

Order a cake for the wife one year from Walmart. Her name has 2 B's. They asked could they omit one to make more room...Really??? It is a cross between uneducated people and Political Correctness that has everything all screwed up. Gotta remember the poor Bakers that got put out of Business because they didn't want to make a cake..

[pcolapaddler]

Auto correct, spell check.. so much of technology relies on lists and patterns. AI had not truly arrived, machines cannot analyze or discern.

My wife works with children and families. While doing research on breast feeding, she was blocked by department web guidelines until admins could provide appropriate permissions.

Tis the world in which we live.

Sent from an unnamed device running an undisclosed OS via a third party application.

[JBinMN]

The Future of letting machines do the work of people...

Only thing is now is that maybe the AI is smarter than the ones who are using the AI.

Or... NOT....

Programmed by the wrong people, or ignorant ones, and the AI is only as smart or ignorant as those who program it...



The Future is looking kind of bleak, if nothing is done to stop the ignorance...

[fatelk]

I'm confused; what is a 4.89 GPA? Must be some new kind of grading scale I'm not familiar with.

Seems like much ado over nothing. The computer system did what it was programmed to do because it can't be programmed to think. The order got screwed up as a result and they offered to fix it. Doesn't seem like a big deal but I didn't read to whole story so maybe something outrageous happened somewhere in the story.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

A teacup with a storm in it indeed. But if it bothers you, go to a firm that applies your photograph to the cake, and the system is unlikely to detect anything you choose to write. I don't know about eBay USA, but in the UK you can even get them done there as ricepaper transfers for your own cookery.

This one was arranged by my merry little bunch of bedouin in Saudi Arabia, when they heard my birthday was in two days. (When people call them disorganised, it is when they don't want to be organised.) They had already done their exams too, and knew someone else would be grading them. They said they asked for only four candles because there were smoke detectors, and the one with the cake slice was terrified because he thought he had lost it, and his mother would kill him.

I don't suppose it was the same firm that I saw so heatedly defended on this board for refusing to do a wedding cake with two grooms.

220878

[Wayne Smith]

4.98 GPA means he has taken advanced credit classes, most likely AP - which qualify for college credit.

[bedbugbilly]

Said with tongue in cheek . . . .

I don't understand . . . but then I'm old and used to drink out of the hose when I was a kid. Why wouldn't a cake with that wording on it be a "standard stock item"? After all . . . everyone is equal and alike . . . every kid has to have a ribbon or reward for participating in things these days . . . . and like on the news lately, every one deserves to be a cheerleader even though they might not be as good as others at the skills . . . .

Sorry . . . but it that's the biggest "disappointment" the kid has, then he's in for a big shock when he gets out in the "real world" . . . suck it up, move on and buy your cakes somewhere else the next time . . . we live in a world of machines and computers . . . for most of us, it's not by choice. There are far bigger things in life to worry about . . .

[Mr_Sheesh]

The problem with AI is that, so far, it's CALLED "Artificial Intelligence", but in reality it's mostly Artificial Insanity, far as I can tell. LOL

[Idaho45guy]

I'm confused; what is a 4.89 GPA? Must be some new kind of grading scale I'm not familiar with.

Seems like much ado over nothing. The computer system did what it was programmed to do because it can't be programmed to think. The order got screwed up as a result and they offered to fix it. Doesn't seem like a big deal but I didn't read to whole story so maybe something outrageous happened somewhere in the story.

I think people are missing the point of the story... It's not that a computer program omitted what it thought was a cuss word; it's that humans were completely ignorant of a common Latin phrase and decorated the cake incorrectly.

"The Publix form included a section for “special instructions” for the bakery, in which Koscinski explained that Summa Cum Laude was a Latin term for high academic honor and was not profane. She included a link to a website explaining the meaning of summa cum laude and said she didn’t think much about it afterward."

I think it's funny and a bit sad, but not outrageous. In a country dumb enough to elect Barack Obama TWICE, I am no longer surprised by stupidity on display.

[Finster101]

I like Publix. It is where the wife and I choose to shop. If they are guilty of anything it’s giving a less than highly educated person a job.

[Finster101]

Publix is also currently the target of a boycott because they contributed to Adam Putnam’s campagn for Governor. The reason, he has an A+ rating from the NRA.

[frkelly74]

I think people are missing the point of the story... It's not that a computer program omitted what it thought was a cuss word; it's that humans were completely ignorant of a common Latin phrase and decorated the cake incorrectly.

"The Publix form included a section for “special instructions” for the bakery, in which Koscinski explained that Summa Cum Laude was a Latin term for high academic honor and was not profane. She included a link to a website explaining the meaning of summa cum laude and said she didn’t think much about it afterward."

I think it's funny and a bit sad, but not outrageous. In a country dumb enough to elect Barack Obama TWICE, I am no longer surprised by stupidity on display.

DING DING DING! we have a winner.

[hwilliam01]

I had an experience a few years ago. I was a high level senior manager for a large corporate 500 company where they take political correctness to a high degree. I had just come in from outside where it was freezing cold out. I was asked how cold it was and I responded with a nautical colloquialism that is common in my home state..."It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". I was taken aside by a manger from HR and told that I was going to be reported and would probably be disciplined for using very inappropriate language. (If you are not familiar with the phrase, it is about the a holder for cannon balls that is made of brass...the iron cannon balls are placed on it with a small lip to keep them from rolling off...when it gets cold outside the brass shrinks a little and when under sail the balls can easily slip off the brass monkey.) When I questioned a tried to explain it to HR, they would not listen to the explanation and I was told "...As a rule of thumb. we do not use the terms monkeys and balls or balls in a sentence..it is inappropriate". The irony is and once I explained the irony, the HR person stormed off. The expression "rule of thumb" is based on old English law that it was legal to beat your wife only with a stick that is thinner than your thumb, hence "Rule of thumb". Think man think....Idiots! I never heard about it again...

[Don Purcell]

Thank you hwilliam01, I had never heard where the "Brass monkey" term came from but the "Rule of Thumb" jarred my memory on that term.

[2wheelDuke]

Thank you hwilliam01, I had never heard where the "Brass monkey" term came from but the "Rule of Thumb" jarred my memory on that term.

It's actually more likely that "rule of thumb" referred to using the thumb as an instrument of measurement, or a ruler. Brewers also once used their thumb to measure the temperature of their wort so they knew when it was cool enough to pitch yeast.

There's no smoking gun to positively link the phrase to either of the 3 possible sources.

I know Publix fairly well. I don't think I've ever known a Publix bakery worker that understands much Latin, and they probably didn't graduate Cum Laude. I wonder how much they read the special instructions anyway.

[condorjohn]

A few years back I was at a friends outdoor party/BBQ. The party goers were a social and racial mix. When an old friend walked in I exclaimed "Mike! I haven't seen you in a coon's age". Might as well have put a big neon "Racist" sign on my head. After that I was poison to all the PC'ers.

[jmort]

Stop calling a spade a spade. I feel bad for the guy, but years ago a man correctly used the word niggardly at a D.C. meeting, and was fired.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/04/dc.word.flap/

[mold maker]

In "68, I was given a very challenging job way above my experience. 39.5 years later I retired and was considered the top in my field. Everyone isn't a success story but, without a chance, no one would be. I wouldn't necessarily put an under-educated person in charge of a public interaction position, but a short time in a support position would give an indication of ability above education level. Even today there are folks who, for whatever reason, couldn't get an HS education. It is understandable that the term "Summa Com Loude" may not be a part of everyone's vocabulary. After all, it's seldom used except at this time of year.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I had an experience a few years ago. I was a high level senior manager for a large corporate 500 company where they take political correctness to a high degree. I had just come in from outside where it was freezing cold out. I was asked how cold it was and I responded with a nautical colloquialism that is common in my home state..."It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". I was taken aside by a manger from HR and told that I was going to be reported and would probably be disciplined for using very inappropriate language. (If you are not familiar with the phrase, it is about the a holder for cannon balls that is made of brass...the iron cannon balls are placed on it with a small lip to keep them from rolling off...when it gets cold outside the brass shrinks a little and when under sail the balls can easily slip off the brass monkey.) When I questioned a tried to explain it to HR, they would not listen to the explanation and I was told "...As a rule of thumb. we do not use the terms monkeys and balls or balls in a sentence..it is inappropriate". The irony is and once I explained the irony, the HR person stormed off. The expression "rule of thumb" is based on old English law that it was legal to beat your wife only with a stick that is thinner than your thumb, hence "Rule of thumb". Think man think....Idiots! I never heard about it again...

I think that is an explanation concocted by landsmen, who have little idea how unpleasantly a ship moved about, to put a respectable gloss on an expression that originated with a creature not easily affected by frostbite. Ready-use ammunition on ships was kept in wooden garlands, single lines of shot around the hatchway so as to be close to the point of minimum motion. Even there they had to be embedded almost up to the middle. and the sort of restraint that could be affected by metal contraction would be quite dangerous.

On land a wooden frame to surround a pyramid of shot was probably common. But at the castle of the Earls of Cassilis, where Eisenhower had a free apartment for life, there is a battery with square flagstones in which a pattern of round dents has been carved. The guns are only short nine-pounders, "defending" a place of no importance except for the Earl having a spot of harmless recreation within walking distance. Well, wouldn't you?

Similarly I think the thumb as a rough inch measurement explains that rule. It can't be found in any legal text, and so far as I know the only judges to quote it were in the US, no doubt of the Judge Roy Bean stamp, who cited a vague memory as a reason to let someone off for wife-beating, and for all we know husband-beating. It has another common meaning in arithmetic, one or two rarer ones in science, and is sometimes given to the principle under which Mr. Capone said once is chance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action.

[blackthorn]

Common curtesy and the teachings of my parents dictate that all people I come into contact with are treated equally and with respect (unless or until their actions dictate otherwise). That said, I detest “political correctness”. That concept has been bastardized and channeled into a tool for the snowflakes to use for the purposes of whining and sniveling about how they are put-upon because they are purple, pink or whatever. They cry that they want to be “equal” when they really mean they want to be ultra-equal. They want only to benefits but not the responsibility of being truly equal. Case in point: In the 1960’s I worked in plywood manufacturing. The plant where I worked had a fairly large percentage of female employees. There were certain jobs that were designated female only and the women were paid a lower base rate for their work. The work designated female was lighter in nature but often required more “finesse” that the employer considered women would be better at. Through our Union negotiations we eliminated the double standard and made all employees equal. That meant that anyone could post for any job they were capable of handling. That negotiation opened up the lighter work to males (women didn’t like that) and it also meant that if the only work your seniority qualified you for, that is where you had to go (or go home). For the most part everyone was happy with the “new” order, but about ten percent of the women felt they should not have to do the dirty or heavy work. Too bad lady you got what you wanted (and were certainly entitled to) but you get to take the bad with the good. Pull your weight or go home!

[blackthorn]

The student referred to in the OP graduated with high honors and the cake company treated his accomplishment with distain and I am sure he was embarrassed in front of friends/family when the cake appeared. If I had ordered a cake with some idiot's interpretation of "PC" sensitive wording and became aware of the problem (as the woman in question did) and I explained the true fact to the idiot in charge, and the cake showed up "PC'd" anyway I would be totally incensed and would do anything in my power to damage that companies reputation going forward!

[hwilliam01]

It was an expression my Grandfather often used, so I had heard it often and didn't think twice about using it.

Your explanation may be more accurate than mine as I was not around to hear the first time it was used (nor was my Grandfather)...LOL. It was the background I got on Google, but as we all know...Abraham Lincoln was known to have expressed frustration for often being misquoted on the internet. (Hahaha).

Since that is the same information HR probably got when they researched it as well....it got me off the hook.


I think that is an explanation concocted by landsmen, who have little idea how unpleasantly a ship moved about, to put a respectable gloss on an expression that originated with a creature not easily affected by frostbite. Ready-use ammunition on ships was kept in wooden garlands, single lines of shot around the hatchway so as to be close to the point of minimum motion. Even there they had to be embedded almost up to the middle. and the sort of restraint that could be affected by metal contraction would be quite dangerous.

On land a wooden frame to surround a pyramid of shot was probably common. But at the castle of the Earls of Cassilis, where Eisenhower had a free apartment for life, there is a battery with square flagstones in which a pattern of round dents has been carved. The guns are only short nine-pounders, "defending" a place of no importance except for the Earl having a spot of harmless recreation within walking distance. Well, wouldn't you?

Similarly I think the thumb as a rough inch measurement explains that rule. It can't be found in any legal text, and so far as I know the only judges to quote it were in the US, no doubt of the Judge Roy Bean stamp, who cited a vague memory as a reason to let someone off for wife-beating, and for all we know husband-beating. It has another common meaning in arithmetic, one or two rarer ones in science, and is sometimes given to the principle under which Mr. Capone said once is chance, twice is coincidence, and three times is enemy action.

[Hardcast416taylor]

4.98 GPA means he has taken advanced credit classes, most likely AP - which qualify for college credit.

I have a niece that is graduating from High School next week, she will start college this Fall starting as a Sophmore due to taking advanced classes the last few years.Robert