For instance, the sense of humor that everyone values the most, but which is completely lost on those outside this culture...
"Haha, Frank, so you've been keeping an eye on him, right? You must have seen his latest articles?"
"Are you referring to the two articles published in Ann.Math? Yes, I've read them, very innovative. He's also generous enough to share some of the credit with his collaborators."
"No, it's not just the papers published in Ann.Math. It seems you went to bed too early last night. You should check out his paper on bounded gaps between prime numbers on arXiv.
Last night, a few of us old folks had a brief conference call. In fact, the entire academic community is very interested in his research!
If he's willing to join the Federation Mathematics Society, there's no doubt the Cole Prize will be awarded to him this year. However, one thing is certain: next year's Ramanujan Prize has already been decided for him; everyone believes no one is more suitable."
