Publix supermarket in South Carolina censors high school graduate's 'Summa Cum Laude' cake

Matthew Diebel | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Grocery store censored 'summa cum laude' on graduation cake A South Carolina woman says she was left embarrassed after a grocery store censored a word on a graduation cake. Veuer's Sam Berman has the full story.

Well, we’re guessing the folks at this particular Publix supermarket didn’t graduate summa cum laude.

The story starts with a proud mom ordering a cake online for her son’s graduation party. On it she wanted the words “Congrats Jacob! Summa Cum Laude Class of 2018.”

But then she found that the software at the Publix near their home in West Ashley, S.C., refused to include the word “Cum” in the decoration on top of the cake because it considered it to be profane.

Undaunted, Cara Koscinski used a special-instructions box to explain that the offending word was part of a Latin phrase for academic honors and meant “with” (laude translates as “honors” or “distinction” and summa as “highest”), according to a report by local TV station WCIV. She even included a link to a website explaining the meaning, reported the Washington Post.

West Ashley family says Publix made a frosting faux pas by censoring honor https://t.co/5HvB3fqGde #chsnews — ABC News 4 (@ABCNews4) May 22, 2018

And so the box containing a frosted sheet cake arrived for the Saturday celebration of Jacob Koscinski’s 4.89 grade point average and admission to a pre-med program at college.

“And when we opened it, it was a huge shock to all of us," Cara Koscinski told the station.

Yes, instead of the word “Cum,” there were three hyphens. ‘‘Congrats Jacob! Summa - - - Laude Class of 2018.’’

Proud mom orders "Summa Cum Laude" cake online. Publix censors it: Summa … Laude. https://t.co/wpNxB77Vvg — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 22, 2018

"The cake experience was kind of frustrating and humiliating because I had to explain to my friends and family, like, what that meant. And they were giggling uncontrollably. At least my friends were," said Jacob Koscinski, 18.

His mother was less calm about the incident, telling the Washington Post that her son was ‘‘absolutely humiliated.’’

‘‘It was unbelievable,” she added “I can’t believe I’m the first one to ever write ‘Summa Cum Laude’ on a cake.”

The Koscinskis told WCIV on Monday that a manager from Publix later apologized and offered a refund.

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And they are now more sanguine (from the Latin word sanguineus) about the incident.

"We're just happy that our son graduated school and has a bright future," said Cara Koscinski.

The station said it reached out to Publix to find out why the incident occurred but didn’t receive a response.