Quick meaning alive

[Benjamin Barrett]

Indeed, that was probably the movie that my interlocutor cited. BB

On Jan 2, 2010, at 12:35 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

>
> IMO, _quickening_ must still be quick (in the archaic sense) for a
> fairly large percentage of speakers, given that there was a movie
> entitled "The Quickening." OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised to discover
> that, for the majority of those who went to see the movie, its title
> had no referent other than as the title of a movie.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 11:59 AM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: Quick meaning alive
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Jan 2, 2010, at 2:35 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: Quick meaning alive
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> FWIW, I've been doing some googling on the subject for the past week,
>>> but, for some reason, can't settle on the final wording of the post.
>>> So,
>>> here's a summary. The bottom line is that until about 1830 exclusively
>>> and until 1890s dominantly this was a purely biblical/liturgical line
>>> from KJV and earlier translations, Apostles' and Nicene Creed and
>>> from a
>>> number of liturgies (more complete line would be "to judge the quick
>>> and
>>> the dead", which appears in at least three places in the New
>>> Testament).
>>> Modern translations ALL have "living" for "quick". The earliest
>>> non-biblical catch was in the 1830 congressional record. The earliest
>>> appearance of the pedestrian joke I traced to 1906--but UK, not US--
>>> but
>>> it is also clearly a secondary source. Perhaps a search of British
>>> newspapers circa 1896-1905 will give an earlier hit. Could not find
>>> the
>>> original of the military version--although it clearly precedes WWII
>>> and,
>>> likely, WWI (and is also likely British in origin). There is an 1890
>>> Punch cartoon on the Barttelot/Jameson affair that may or may not be
>>> utilizing the same pun. The phrase was a VERY popular title of both
>>> novels and chapters in novels (as well as some nonfiction) in the
>>> 1880s
>>> through 1910s. All trite stuff, except for the 1906 citation.
>>>
>>> Will post the final copy over the weekend.
>>>
>>>    VS-)
>>>
>>> On 1/2/2010 2:11 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>>> Tonight, I asked two West Coasters in their mid-40s if they
>>>> understood the LA joke. Both said they did, but on further
>>>> questioning, neither understood that "quick" means "alive." Once
>>>> they knew that, one commented that there was a movie
>>>> ("Quickening ??" or "Quickened ??") whose title then made sense.
>>>>
>>>> AFAIK, this meaning is now restricted to "the quick and the dead."
>>>> Since there is no other usage to inform people of the meaning
>>>> "alive," this expression can propagate itself only through explicit
>>>> education (in an educational setting or a book). It therefore seems
>>>> appropriate to refer to this as being a moribund expression.
>>>>
>>>> Benjamin Barrett
>>>> Seattle, WA

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