The Piranha Theory

Sometimes it's interesting how people remember things, or in some cases, don't quite fully remember things.

I heard someone ask about “The Piranha Theory” yesterday. That was a bit of a head-scratcher at first.

In context, it quickly became apparent the person was trying to make a reference to the Pythagorean theorem.

If you think about it, it's possible to see the connections. Most of the letters or pronunciations are in common between both sets of words:

Pythagorean

Piranha

Theorem

Theory

It got even better when the discussion leader said, “‘Piranha Theory.’ I like that. I think I'm going to call it that from now on.”

Perhaps it would be better to have a flesh-eating school of fish gnawing on the legs of right triangles instead of other legs.