Greased lightning must be really fast
The other day a friend asked me about the origin of the phrase ‘greased lightning,’ and though I’ve heard it all my life, it’s a phrase I never really gave much thought. Obviously it refers to speed, as in ‘Man, that running back is faster than greased lightning.’
Well, once I began to research this particular phrase, I was surprised to find how many oddball phrases there are which refer to speed, many of which originated in the 1800s but are still used today.
Here is a short list of some of those rather picturesque expressions. Some may be familiar to most of you, while some won’t. At any rate, my challenge today will be to find logical origins of as many of these as I can:
‘ Quick as greased lightning
‘ Before you can say ‘Jack Robinson’
‘ Pronto
‘ In a jiffy
‘ Like a house afire
‘ Hell bent
‘ Immediately if not sooner
‘ Lickety-split
Since I don’t think I’ll be able to get to all of these today, I’ll continue with this subject my next couple of columns, so stay tuned.
First I’ll deal with ‘greased lightning.’ According to my research, the phrase ‘quick as lightning’ dates back to around 1763. The grease was added in the 1840s. Of course, it’s pretty easy to figure out how the phrase ‘quick as lightning’ came into common use, since lightning strikes seem to occur almost instantly. And here’s a fact that makes this even more interesting, though I always thought lighting strikes came from the storm clouds above, some lightning strikes actually originate from the ground. These are called ground-to-cloud lightning and are common on tall towers and skyscrapers.
Though there isn’t any way to tell who first tacked on the ‘greased’ element of the phrase, it does make a sort of off-the-wall sense. After all, if lighting is fast, if you greased it would be even faster, though how anyone figured you could put some grease on a huge bolt of electrical energy seems a little weird to me.
Now we come to ‘before you can say Jack Robinson.’ I knew of this phrase, though I can’t say I ever heard anyone use it in common speech, but it has been around for a long time. My exposure to the saying came from books. Though it’s origins seem rather obscure, at least one lexicographer, Francis Grose, who had the advantage of working around the period when the phrase was coined, believed it was derived from an actual person. In his book, ‘Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,’ published in 1811, Grose included this charming entry:
‘Before one could say Jack Robinson; a saying to express a very short time, originating from a very volatile gentleman of that appellation, who would call on his neighbors, and be gone before his name could be announced.’
However, other word mavens question the validity of this account. Some feel Mr. Robinson is of the same ilk as some other famous Jacks, such as Jack Frost or Jack the Giant Killer.
Next I’ll tackle the term ‘pronto.’ This one is actually pretty easy. It comes from our habit as English speakers of stealing words from other languages and using them for our own ends.
Familiar terms like rodeo, taco, enchilada and, oh yes, pronto, all come to us from the Spanish. Pronto comes from a Spanish adjective or adverb meaning ‘quick’ or ‘quickly.’ Somebody apparently liked the sound of it and there you go, English has a new word. Many thanks to our Spanish-speaking friends.
All right folks, for today, I’m afraid that’s the whole enchilada. But as I said, stay tuned. I promise to return to this pronto.
Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at newseditor@southernstandard.com.