Antedating of "Bell Curve"

[Jonathan Lighter]

How about "bell-shaped curve ?"  That's the predominant form I remember from college days.

JL

Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Fred Shapiro
Subject: Antedating of "Bell Curve"
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bell curve (OED 1970)

Within recent years a tendency has developed to require that the
distribution of efficiency ratings shall conform to the normal frequency
or bell curve of distribution.
Lewis Meriam, Public Personnel Problems from the Standpoint of the
Operating Officer 50 (1938) (Questia)

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
Access and Lecturer in Legal Research Yale University Press,
Yale Law School forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu http://quotationdictionary.com
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