Originally Posted by Roddy1

Dropping from neutral into a gear in an automatic to get started is called a neutral drop and is incredibly retarded to do. Unless you like breaking transmissions, do not do this. This is not what is meant by launching an automatic.

Launching an automatic can mean one foot on the brake, one on the gas only enough to bring up the RPMS higher than idle. some people might like to set the RPMS to 1,000 or 2,000 etc... then when you get the green light you realease the brake and stomp the gas.... which should get you off the line a bit faster in theory (account for possibly more wheel spin etc)... This technique is also called flashing the converter...