bell curve

[Jonathan Lighter]

Charlie's got it right. I can attest to that usage from at least 1970.

Usually, though, I think the speakers assume that there's some kind or
arcane mathematical analysis involved before you simply raise the grade to
something they like better.

JL

On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 10:41 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: bell curve
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Aug 7, 2012, at 10:34 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>
> > And for many years now, in student parlance, "curve" in reference to
> grades has meant, simply, 'raise'.
> >
> > Almost never does the hopeful query "Are you going to curve these
> grades?" mean "Will you be lowering my B- to a D?"
> >
> > --Charlie
>
> No, but it might mean "Will you be lowering all those other A- and B+
> grades so my *real* A will be worth more?"
>
> LH
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> > Sent: Monday, August 06, 2012 9:46 PM
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Who dreamed up that idea of "curving" grades anyway?
> >
> > What BS. (Well, maybe if you were a beginning teacher who had no idea
> what
> > a reasonable exam was like and nobody scored above a D.)
> >
> > But otherwise, what BS.  Instead of the predicted bell curve, I often got
> > an inverted one: i.e., lots of F's and D's and a good number of B's and
> > A's. Diagnosis: an easy test for anybody who bothered to study even a
> > little.
> >
> > JL
> >
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