E for Effort (1940)

[Sally Donlon]

The Es for Excellent I got began with first grade in 1960, but in South
Louisiana, so it never seemed odd to me. In fact, when I got to high
school, I wondered where they went.

I also got phonics in 1960.

sally donlon



Barbara Need wrote:

> When I was first getting letter grades (1960s, near Cleveland), it
> was A, B, C, D, and F. Early in the 70s (now north of Boston), they
> changed the grading system and E stood for Excellent. Even though I
> had not experienced a grading system where E was the worst grade, I
> found it less than informative.
>
> Barbara Need
> UChicago--Linguistics
>
> >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:
> >
> >>
> >>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?