E for Effort (1940)

[Wilson Gray]

How old are you? I'm nearly 70 and it's "E for effort" that I recall
from my elementary-school years in the early '40's. "A for effort"
feels like a hypercorrection, as you imply when you say that "'A' is
easier to understand."

-Wilson Gray

On May 3, 2004, at 11:17 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <bjb5 at U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: E for Effort (1940)
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>
> Thank you for this interesting history, Barry.
>
> I've heard that version, but I more commonly hear, and I use "A for
> effort". When I hear "E", I always wonder if it's a failing grade, so
> the
> "A" is easier to understand.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]
>>
>> E FOR EFFORT--3,270 Google hits, 2,120 Google Groups hits
>>
>>  Who grades with this letter?
>>  Not in OED, HDAS, CASSELL DICTIONARY OF SLANG?
>>  Was this coined by Bing Crosby in ROAD TO SINGAPORE?
>