Wikipedia defines cum as:
A sexual term, meaning to orgasm
- Semen or vaginal fluid, produced in ejaculation
- A Latin word, which can be either the preposition with or a conjunction meaning when, because, or although.
I am actually going to blog about the 2nd definition (bummer, u say. haha)
Following my previous writeup on the difference between day off & off day, I just wanted to add to the growing list of mis-used words and phrases that are so often taken for granted here.
The latin word cum means with, but so often people here take it to mean And or Includes, which is wrong. Locally, you often see the word cum in the classified advertisements.
e.g. Looking for Secretary cum typist, or people saying "I am having my breakfast cum lunch"
When you graduate cum laude, it says that you graduated with great praises (an honour) such as magna cum laude or summa cum laude. These are about the only latin references that uses cum nowadays.
So if you are placing an advert for a Secretary, you would phrase it as "secretarial duties cum typing".
On a funnier note, if you did graduate cum laude and if you don't seem to be getting responses to your online resumes for jobs, the reason is that most filtering computer servers will take the 1st definition of cum and mark your resume as pornography. ha ha.
Here's a clip from 'The Noose'. Listen to Babarella using the correct meaning of cum.
