Antedating of "Bell Curve"

[Wilson Gray]

Interesting. I've never heard or read "curve-buster" before. As I
recall it, curve-breaking was something that mattered - in the early
'50's, at least - only in secondary-school math classes, in which the
highest grade scored on a test in a subject like advanced college
algebra might be as low as 75%. In such a case, a grade of 67%, after
it had been curved on the basis of a high grade of only 75%, might turn
out to be a C+ or even a B-. However, if there was someone in the class
who either had studied or had a talent for math, he might score 97%,
thereby "breaking" the curve and reducing a grade of 67% to an F. In
other classes, asking a teacher whether s/he graded on the curve was
just kidding around, since everyone knew that  the grading was strictly
WYSIWYG, so to say, in all other subjects.

In short, a curve-breaker was someone who got such a high score on a
math test that *not even* grading on the curve would help me, uh, I
mean, the low-scorers.

-Wilson

On Apr 9, 2005, at 8:34 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Bell Curve"
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>
> Wilson, the word I know is "curve-buster." It means somebody who does
> so well on a test that the prof won't "grade on the curve."  I may
> have had only one exx., so it might not be in HDAS.
>
> Is this the same as "curve-breaker"?
>
> JL
>
> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Bell Curve"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> On Apr 7, 2005, at 4:19 PM, Fred Shapiro wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Fred Shapiro
>> Subject: Antedating of "Bell Curve"
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>> -
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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
>
> Good eye, Fred! The term has to be older than 1970. People were already
> talking about the bell curve, breaking the curve, and curve-breakers
> when I was in high school in the '50's.
>
> -Wilson
>
>>
>>
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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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