Nov. 22nd, 2011

sniffnoy: (Golden Apple)
So instead here's a funny bit of nonstandard English usage. Today in number theory Jeff Lagarias was saying that a certain function decays very rapidly, and he described this by saying that it "drops off like Gangbusters". Kind of an ironic generalization. Actually, a quick Google search reveals a number of things being said to occur "like Gangbusters" in ways that don't make a lot of sense wrt the etymology of the phrase, so I guess this isn't particularly unique, but it was the first time I recall hearing it. (Also, looking it up, it looks like Gangbusters would have actually been on when he was a kid, though obviously I have no idea whether he actually listened to it.)

-Harry

February 2026

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