Why Do We Say ‘Like Gangbusters?’
For example, we might say ‘tickets to the show sold like gangbusters.’ Although most native English speakers understand what gangbusters means it does sound old-fashioned and the original allusion is lost to most of us. So, what does gangbusters refer to?
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That was the opening of a highly popular radio show called Gangbusters that ran from 1936 to 1957. It was similar to the Dragnet radio show except it was about true crime cases from the FBI.
The original idiom was usually ‘come on like Gangbusters’ which means to do something with a lot of energy, excitement, enthusiasm, etc. but also, perhaps, with a lot of noise and frenetic activity.
The Gangbusters radio show used a lot of sound effects like sirens and gunshots, but especially at the beginning. It started with a lot of energy, noise, and excitement, so this is the origin of ‘come on like,’ or, in other words ‘begin like gangbusters.’
Meaning of Idiom ‘Like Gangbusters’
Today, like gangbusters more generally describes anything with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, noise, speed, excitement, etc. If we say something is selling like gangbusters, we mean it’s selling like hotcakes. But, gangbusters has more of a connotation of a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, not just quantity and speed.
Examples Of Use
“The restaurant started off like gangbusters but soon, the people stopped coming in to eat.”
“They thought the iPad would sell like gangbusters and destroy the sale of Amazon’s Kindle pads. While the iPad certainly was successful, it did little to blunt the Kindle.”
Gangbusters Radio Show
The Gangbusters radio show went on to spawn a movie serial in 1942 and a 30-minute TV show, and even comic books and storybooks. The TV show only ran from March to October of 1952. The 30-minute program aired on alternate weeks with Dragnet airing on the other weeks. When Dragnet was able to produce enough episodes to air every week, Gangbusters was canceled.
Some episodes were re-edited as part of a new movie and later the series was syndicated with a new name, Captured, including some previously unaired episodes.
