# Why do we "launch" an investigation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705 "2025-07-10T16:26:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/1 "2025-07-10T16:26:36Z")
Occasionally someone “opens” an investigation but it seems no one just “starts” one. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/2 "2025-07-10T16:35:56Z")
I think launching comes from the late Latin «lanceāre», meaning throwing a spear. Investigators like bellicistic expressions, makes them look resolute and powerful. Guarantees success! Open an investigation is the bureaucratic version: you open a file like a book on a desk, lick your pencil and start writing the results. Much boringer. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/3 "2025-07-10T16:56:14Z")
Is it any more than imagery? Launch suggests something complex done under orders from important people. We sometime file complaints but, when we really mean them, we lodge a complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/4 "2025-07-10T18:08:14Z")
Congressional investigations on C-SPAN don’t seem launched - just unmoored. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/5 "2025-07-10T18:38:46Z")
To me, “Launch” implies there is a reasonable chance it might fail. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/6 "2025-07-10T18:47:55Z")
FWIW: The first cites I came across in a quick search regarding “launch” and “investigation” were from 1907, so we’ve been doing it a while. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/7 "2025-07-10T19:40:47Z")
We also launch new programs, experiments, campaigns, businesses, servers, websites, video games, lawsuits, careers, missions, expeditions, rants, products, revolutions, rockets… Seems like it’s just a generic verb to powerfully start something? 🚀 > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > To me, “Launch” implies there is a reasonable chance it might fail. Or that marketers wrote the press release 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/8 "2025-07-10T20:03:56Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Seems like it’s just a generic verb to powerfully start something? It’s an analogy to a ship setting out on a voyage. Back in the day, when you thought of big and powerful things starting to move, you thought ships. It would have been an obvious comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/9 "2025-07-10T20:12:19Z")
The analogy may be there, but the ### [Etymology](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/launch) (from wikidictionary) From [Middle English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English) _[launchen](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/launchen#Middle_English)_ (“to throw as a lance”), [Old French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_French) _[lanchier](https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=lanchier&action=edit&redlink=1)_, another form ([Old Northern French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norman)/Norman variant, compare Jèrriais _[lanchi](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lanchi#Norman)_) of _[lancier](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lancier#Old_French)_, French _[lancer](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lancer#French)_, from _[lance](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lance#French)_. still comes from a spear or, if you prefer, a lance. When you launch something, you throw it like a spear. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/10 "2025-07-10T23:15:46Z")
In etymology, we end up throwing things a lot - “parable” goes back to a word meaning “to throw down alongside” (as you would to make a comparison between two things) - and it’s cognate to words like “parabola” and “parallel”). ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/11 "2025-07-11T14:23:01Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Occasionally someone “opens” an investigation but it seems no one just “starts” one. Papa does… ♫ _The mama pajama rolled out of bed_ _And she ran to the police station_ _When the papa found out he, began to shout_ _And he **started** the investigation_ ♫ ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-launch-an-investigation/1020705/12 "2025-07-12T23:08:58Z")
A lovely bit of Simon nonsense!