Rank Inflation/Headscratchers

• How did "S" come to mean "above A", anyway? I must be missing something.
  • I think it means super, but that's just a guess.
  • Supreme
  • Special? That what I thought when I read Naruto.
  • There are a lot of Super, Special, Stylish, Superlative, Stupendous, Spectacular words that begin with "S". Some games have a Star instead, further justifying it.
    • Also, Devil May Cry 4 (and other games in the series) spells out what the ranks stand for, providing some examples. Deadly, Carnage, Brutal, Atomic, Stylish, Smokin' Style, Smokin' Sick Style.
  • Sugoi, Japanese meaning "amazing" or "wonderful", etc.
• Why is there ranke E? F is for failing, but at least you passed. Should there be a D?
  • If you're asking why a "traditional" American-style scale (A B C D F) lacks an E, my best guess is that the folks who originally came up with it A) wanted F for Failed for obvious reasons, B) wanted each letter to be its own 10% block, for simplicity, and C) decided the pass-fail boundary should be at 60% for whatever reason. Deciding between fulfilling their requirements and including an E for completeness's sake, they opted out of it. But (while it makes sense) some other derivation could be the right one..
  • A still occasionally used and almost certainly older grading scale had "E" for "Excellent/Exceeds Expectations" as the highest grade. Presumably, schools didn't want kids to have confusing grades (among other things, lying about which scale it is when they get an E. When I was graded on this scale in elementary school, it ended in an "F" for "Failing", so that wasn't a problem).