[Ads-l] Heard on Black Jesus: _with the quickness_ "right now, immediately, A.S.A.P."

[Ben Zimmer]

The band Bad Brains had a song called "With the Quickness" on their 1989
album "Quickness."

https://genius.com/Bad-brains-with-the-quickness-lyrics

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 8:05 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Please, Pops, I pray to you, give me a sign, _with the quickness_!"
>
> New to me, but Green's kind of has i    t:
>
> 1991 [U.S.] De La Soul 'Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa' [lyrics] Millie
> _bucked_ him and, with the quickness, it was over
>
> I say "kind of," because the cite is for _buck_ v.2:
>
> 7. (US black/teen) to shoot a weapon
>
> and not for _with the quickness_ "just like that, suddenly," in context,
> apparently not recognizing _with the quickness_ as slang. As Horace put it:
>
> _Idem indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus_
> "I am annoyed, when even great Homer nods [off]."
>
> The UD has the phrase from 2006:
>
> with the quickness
> To do something in a quick or fast manner
>
> and from 2009
>
> With the quickness
> To ... do something fast
>
> Etymological WAG:
>
> Googling shows that phrases such as "with the quickness of light(e)ning,
> with the quickness of a courier, with the quickness of his reason, with the
> Quickness with which a glorified Body is wheresoever it pleases, with the
> quickness of mind, with the quickness of thought" occur over and over
> again, through 2014. The phrase, "with the quickness of this Contraction,"
> goes back to 1702.
>
> So, perhaps, _with the quickness_ originated as a clip of phrases of this
> type.

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