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If you are/were a student at the University of the West Indies and have never been in a class where students were strongly reprimanded for swotting then kudos to you. I can vividly recall more than one of those persecution sessions. They often follow in-class tests, quizzes and mid-semester exams. Weak analysis and incorrect application of knowledge are often deemed by lecturers a key indication of swotting – cramming information at the last minute and not doing additional reading.

Though entertaining, not all consumers of the Pelican Annual Magazines of the 1950s were receptive of the writing styles popularly employed by the contributors. “Nonsense, pretty pretty, trashy, pointless and cliché,” are among the words used by one reviewer to describe the Pelican prose. Based on such description, it is evident that a number of these articles were quite unpalatable to the more ‘refined’ taste buds. Nevertheless, I must concur that some of these jargons often resulted in a raised eyebrow as one reads the articles.