GANGBUSTERS, exp. I think this is primarily a feature of US English, but we have these expressions “going gangbusters” or “coming on like gangbusters” that mean “going strongly.” They’re maybe a little dated now and not terribly common, but I still know what they mean. But I only just realized that I have no idea where any of this comes from. (This newsletter is like a weekly log of my ignorance. Hear a word, think “huh,” look it up.)
From 1936 to 1957, there was a radio show in the US called Gang Busters that dramatized true stories of police officers busting gangs. Early copaganda! Anyway, the show used to come on the radio with a huge racket of police sirens, whistles, gun shots, convicts marching, and music, so originally if something was “coming on like Gang Busters,” it was making a lot of noise or a big show. You can hear the Gang Busters intro in this YouTube.
Honestly, I found the racket a little underwhelming after all these decades of hype. The most noticeable thing about it for me is how open the show is about being copaganda. (The show’s predecessor, G-Men, was about FBI agents and stories were subject to J. Edgar Hoover’s discretion.)
Anyway, it’s funny how words outlive their origins. It makes me wonder which catchphrases and memes will survive our era.
This week I forgot how to read! I’m in the middle of N. G. Peltier’s contemporary romance Sweethand (bi m/het f, both cis) and it’s delightful, but I haven’t finished it. I’m also in the middle of several books in French, doing research for my novel in a desperate effort to stave off having to write the last four thousand words of this monstrously long manuscript, but I have finished neither the books I’m reading for research nor my novel. Hélas.
I will be back in your inbox on August 22, hopefully having finished one or more of these things.
