What is the origin of the phrase "in the loop?" Specifically, why a "loop?"?
467815
Most people associate gossip or news to run in a continuous cycle or loop: i.e., it never stops moving or going. Once you choose to step outside the loop, however, it is tough to get reacquainted with gossip and news. It definitely can run with you.
361336
The phrase is derived from the practice of quickly jotting down calculations on the piece of paper nearest to hand, which in pre-email days often meant the back of an envelope. Another possible origin for the phrase is a widespread myth that Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address on the back of an envelope while on the train to Gettysburg.\n\nThe physicist refered to by your professor is Feynman.
789398
Just in case you didn't catch it when 6 people said the same thing before, the answer to your question is:\n\nthe origin
939272
In what context?\n\nThe better the question, the better the answer you're likely to elicit. Please elaborate.
167949
Well, I ran it through Alta Vista translator and got "Trace program of the herds?".  I'm assuming the phrase is French.  Does this make any sense in the context in which you saw it?
468265
In this case, the answer is the third word in the phrase "the English language", i.e. "language"! The part about "angry and hungry" turns out to be a red herring. (from COPYEDITING-L list and the rec.puzzles Usenet newsgroup's FAQ) People who don't know the trick to this puzzle, by changing the wording when they pass the question along, have mangled the question until there is no real answer! \n\nThere is no answer. \nThe puzzle is WRONG. "It's a fraud, it's a fake," says Will Shortz, who is the puzzle editor of the New York Times and the host of a puzzle segment on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition (NPR, 11/10/96). The actual truth is that \nNO other common English word ends in -gry! It's a trick question -- and the trick, at least in some versions, has been lost. Word-puzzle fans and reference librarians have been trying for years to track the question's history to find the original answer. But to do that we need to know what the original question was. And there are several different versions in circulation purporting to be the original.
418624
It is impossible to know without the context. What's the whole sentence you find the phrase in?\n\nEdit: That really makes no sense. It's certainly not a frequently used abbreviation. Some more information would really be helpful.
81124
I assume you mean "paraphrase." It means to repeat something in your own words, usually to clarify the meaning.
225140
I don't know if there's much etymology of the phrase, but here's an article about it which puts forth some interesting possibilities of the origin.\n\nQuote from the site:\n\n"Some linguists and historians think the expression must have been well known during the war years, citing a story about General Eisenhower's dog. The story goes that the dog (Felix) urinated on a map and the officers joked that the enemy was "pissed off." (Leonard Mosely, Marshall, 1982)."
835174
question (n.)  \nc.1300, from Anglo-Fr. questiun, O.Fr. question "legal inquest," from L. quæstionem (nom. quæstio) "a seeking, inquiry," from root of quærere (pp. quæsitus) "ask, seek." The verb is first recorded 1470, from O.Fr. questionner (13c.). Question mark is from 1869, earlier question stop (1862). Depreciatory sense of questionable is attested from 1806.
794177
There isn't one, think about it; why would a word like that ever need to be 'disguised' by a code ? (which is what rhyming slang is). You could always make up a ryhme yourself, if you really need one, which is exactly what some of those who answer this will do !
19284
It's a notational convenience.\n\n1) It helps avoid the problem of running out of unique symbols when working with a large, possibly infinate, set of variables.\n\n2) It provides a way to keep track of ordering in a set of variables when that ordering makes a difference.\n\n3) It makes it possible to express the values of a sequence of variables when their value depends on their position in the sequence. An example would be the Fibonacci sequence where each number in the sequence is the sum of the two previous numbers (the first two being defined as 1). It can be expressed as: \n\na(sub)1 = 1\na(sub)2 = 1\na(sub)n = a(sub)(n-1) + a(sub)(n-2)
902365
Bob is god.  \n\nA detailed explanation can be found by following the link below.   Look for the fourth posting which explains the phrase's origin.
353313
A moth found in the Mark II computer in 1945 that kept it from working.\n\nEdit: Also where the term 'debugging' came from.
813016
It's believed to have been abreviated from Oll Korrect, used in Boston newspapers during the 1800's, as a deliberate misspelling of All Correct.\n\nApparently they liked using abbreviations apparently.
896393
You are not crazy... This is one of the original combinations of the words "learing" and "finding", which would mean to search for answers...  Before this form we had the word "lordigazing".
144073
I used to think it was a reference to something very common in life, like the birds and the bees are in nature. It was a kind of twisted reference to something so plain and commonplace, in a satirical way. But this question coming up here made me look around. I think the following article gives a plausible explanation.\n\nhttp://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bir1.htm