Facebook users were quick to mark the seemingly ridiculous headline “Grocery store censors cake with request for ‘Summa Cum Laude’” as potential codswallop.
The report originally comes from the Washington Post, which followed up on a Facebook post from the graduate’s mother complaining about the big mess Publix made.
Koscinski wrote in the “special instructions” portion of the form that this particular “cum” was Latin. Still, Publix did not include the word on the final draft, replacing it instead with three dashes.
“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,” graduate Jacob Koscinski told ABC News, “at least my friends were.”
The Washington Post reported that Koscinski received “a $70 refund for the cake and a store gift card” in apology for the incident. The Post conducted its own test to see whether or not the word “cum” was still censored on Publix’s cake building tool. At the time, it was.
Readers will be happy to know that TWS Fact Check also tested this word on Publix’s tool and patrons of Publix can rejoice! The bug has been fixed; you can now put “cum” anywhere on your cake.
If you have questions about this fact check, or would like to submit a request for another fact check, email Holmes Lybrand at [email protected] or the Weekly Standard at [email protected]. For details on TWS Fact Check, see our explainer here.
