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Khoff Posted 19 years ago
Vocabulary
stay ahead of the curve
0 I know how this expression is used -- it means to take action to prevent a problem rather than waiting until it occurs, when the action would be less effective -- but I don't know where it comes from. (For instance, my dentist always tells me to take a painkiller before the novocaine wears off, to "stay ahead of the curve.") Can anyone tell me the literal meaning that the figurative meaning evolved from? 0-
Top answer
0 01 blockquote 01 cite 10 Khoff 12 cite 10 I know how this expression is used -- it means to take action to prevent a problem rather than waiting until it occurs, when the action would be less effective -- but I don't know where it comes from. 12 blockquote 10 01 b 01 font 00 Where have I been? I've never heard of this expression.
- 0 01 blockquote 01 cite 10 Khoff 12 cite 10 I know how this expression is used -- it means to take action to prevent a problem rather than waiting until it occurs, when the action would be less effective -- but I don't know where it comes from.
- 12 blockquote 10 01 b 01 font 00 Where have I been?
- I've never heard of this expression.
- 02 font 02 b 00 0-
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10 Answers
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01 cite 10 Khoff 12 cite 10 I know how this expression is used -- it means to take action to prevent a problem rather than waiting until it occurs, when the action would be less effective -- but I don't know where it comes from. (For instance, my dentist always tells me to take a painkiller before the novocaine wears off, to "stay ahead of the
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0 Philip, if you don't stay ahead of the curve, you may find yourself behind the 8-ball. 05 0 02 br
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00 Khoff, I have no idea, but I'm going to look. 02 br
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00 Edited: I saw this on another forum: If you plot normal probability distribution on a graph, the shape looks similar to a bell. This is usually referred to as the Bell Curve. If someone is ahead
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00 Khoff, I have no idea, but I'm going to look. 02 br
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00 Edited: I saw this on another forum: If you plot normal probability distribution on a graph, the shape looks similar to a bell. This is usually referred to as the Bell Curve. If someone is ahead
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0 As GG says, 02 br
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00 Do better than the statistics and the curve for them (the statistical distribution/spread) would indicate for someone in your case. 0-
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00 Do better than the statistics and the curve for them (the statistical distribution/spread) would indicate for someone in your case. 0-
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0 Easier to say "stay ahead of the curve" than to say "stay 2 standard deviations ahead of the mean". 05 0 010id 1
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0 I was thinking at first maybe it was a baseball metaphor, like anticipating where the curve ball was really going to be rather than where it was apparently heading -- but I guess it could well be the statistical curve. (But doesn't "stay ahead of the curve" sound sort of like the curve itself is moving? ) 0-
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'Staying ahead of the curve' means knowledge about future occurance of an event with the help of which one may take preventive actions.
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Not a "Nuke" but serving alongside on Nuclear Powered vessels, I belief this is engineering term for operating the reactor in manner to keep reactions in check / i.e. from running away in uncontrollable manner.
Analogy might be governing positive acceleration of your car so it doesn't slam you into object, as well as negative acceleration so that you aren't launched through the windshield.
Analogy might be governing positive acceleration of your car so it doesn't slam you into object, as well as negative acceleration so that you aren't launched through the windshield.
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Having been raised in Southern California, I knew it as meaning to stay on the face of the wave when surfing - ahead of the curve - from back in the 1950's.
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