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early mark


To be allowed to go home from school early. Only heard it used in NSW: Leaving work or school early "I've got an early mark today." Compare early minute.

Contributor's comments: You could earn an "early mark" at school which meant you could leave a few minutes before the bell. This was in the 1960's in Sydneys South western suburbs.

Contributor's comments: Almost on a daily basis at primary school on the Central Coast, NSW. Sometimes in high school.

Contributor's comments: I grew up in the Central West and Central Coast of NSW, and "early mark" was in common use there too.

Contributor's comments: Going to school in the 70's and 80's it was always an "early mark". My work colleagues also use the term early. What else would you call it ???

Contributor's comments: I've heard this phrase used in Brisbane, not as extensively as the primary contributor in NSW reports, and in the context of leaving work early rather than school. Not a hugely popular phrase, but it's there. I've never heard my teenage kids use it.

Contributor's comments: I went to school in South Australia (Northern and Adelaide regions) and I'm pretty sure the term "early mark" was used (as well as "early minute").

Contributor's comments: Sydney in the 70's and 80's we used early mark. I disagree with its use in South Australia .. all I've come across only ever use or understand "early minute".

Contributor's comments: Re: 'early mark'. I grew up and went to school in Albury, on the NSW/Victoria border. The term 'early mark' was in common use in primary school there in the 1970s and early 80s, and to a lesser degree in high school. I moved to Melbourne in 1990 and have encountered large numbers of people who have never heard of the term.

Contributor's comments: In the Manly area of Sydney in the 1940s and 1950s we got "earlymarks" if did something particularly good at school.

Contributor's comments: Great pride and pleasure detained from early marks in primary school, 1960's in Mount Prichard. I use it with my co-wokers and friends in the U.S. and never have to explain what it means...they just seem to know instinctively.

Contributor's comments: Used extensively in Newcastle.

Contributor's comments: I attended primary school in metropolitan Sydney in the 1990s and the term "early mark" was still very common. I heard it less in high school though! *sigh*