Word: systeme
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...than-heroic. The misuse of this punctuation mark has spiraled even beyond the single exclamation point; since one represents the standard suffix to a message, you now have to put two or three extra points to show actual excitement or pleasure. Indulging this cultural norm incites a positive feedback system, with more and more exclamation points needed to show the same level of emotion, akin to an addict needing more of a stimulant to get the same lift...
...have, I must confess, serious doubts about the efficacy--or even the integrity--of the "classic" exam period editorial, "Beating the System," you reprinted recently. I almost suspect this so-called "Donald Carswell '50" of being rather one of Us--the Bad Guys--than one of You. If your readers have been following Mr. Carswell's advice for the last eleven years, then your readers have been going down the tubes. It is time to disillusion...
...right, of course, about the third alternative, and very sensible one it is--working out some system of fooling the grader; although I think I should prefer the word "impressing." We admit to being impressionable, but not hyper-credulous simps. His first two tactics for system beating, his Vague Generalities and Artful Equivocations, seem to presume the latter, and are only going to convice Crimson-reading graders (there are a few, and we tell our friends) that the time has come to tighten the screws just a bit more...
Crimson editors over the decades have made some memorable attempts to capture exam period in newsprint. The following op-ed, “Beating the System,” won the Dana Reed Prize for undergraduate writing in 1951. The Crimson proudly ran it every reading period until 1962, when it irked one maligned and anonymous grader enough to reply...
...Harvard examination system is designed, according to its promulgators, to test two specific things: knowledge of trends and knowledge of detail. Men approaching the examination problem have three choices: 1.) flunking out; 2.) doing work; or 3.) working out some system of fooling the grader. The first choice of solution is too permanent and the second takes too long...