The “boiling point of nitrogen” conversational norm may be original to Boston, but the descriptive phrase “boiling point of nitrogen discussion” for the sort of thing the norm aims to avoid was in use at Caltech around 2005 and I’m fairly sure it originated there.
The “boiling point of nitrogen” conversational norm may be original to Boston, but the descriptive phrase “boiling point of nitrogen discussion” for the sort of thing the norm aims to avoid was in use at Caltech around 2005 and I’m fairly sure it originated there.
We have at least one person who was part of Caltech culture for a while, so that is probably where we got it.