E for Effort (1940)

[Sally Donlon]

Well, and I'm not quite 50 and I remember getting Es (usually!) for
"excellent" all through elementary school. In those days, of course, we went
right from elementary into high school.

sally donlon



Wilson Gray wrote:

> 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
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <bjb5 at U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: E for Effort (1940)
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > 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?
> >