origin, at sea. Before powered horns, ships routinely used bells,
whistles, and gongs to signal each other over longer distances than
voice can carry.
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bells whistles and gongs n.

A standard elaborated form of [1235]bells and whistles; typically said
with a pronounced and ironic accent on the `gongs'.
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benchmark n.

[techspeak] An inaccurate measure of computer performance. "In the
computer industry, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and
benchmarks." Well-known ones include Whetstone, Dhrystone, Rhealstone
(see [1239]h), the Gabriel LISP benchmarks (see [1240]gabriel), the
SPECmark suite, and LINPACK. See also [1241]machoflops, [1242]MIPS,
[1243]smoke and mirrors.
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