Before you can say Jack Robinson. This phrase recently popped out of a character's mouth as I was writing dialogue for my current work-in-progress, causing me to screech to a halt.
I knew what this expression meant: very quickly, or suddenly
But did this expression exist in 1881 (the timeframe I'm writing about), or was I being (horrors!) anachronistic? And who is/was Jack Robinson anyway?
Well, you can guess what I did next. (Hint: I didn't plunge back into the draft.)
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According to my handy-dandy American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer, the expression before you can say Jack Robinson (or quicker than you can say Jack Robinson) originated in the 1700s. (Yay! I can use it!) However, according to Ammer, Jack Robinson himself remains a mystery:
... the identity of Jack Robinson has been lost. Grose's Classical Dictionary (1785) said he was a man who paid such brief visits to acquaintances that there was scarcely time to announce his arrival before he had departed, but it gives no further documentation.The online Phrase Finder is also left scratching its head over this Jack fellow, suggesting one more possible derivation, but then quickly discounting it:
...Sir John Robinson was the Constable of the Tower of London for several years from 1660 onward. Some have suggested that he was the source of the phrase and have bequeathed him a reputation for hastily chopping off people's heads. There's no evidence to link the phrase with Sir John, or that he was in any way unusually quick in dispatching the Tower's inmates....The Word Detective has fun tackling this phrase by way of musing into the many uses of the name "Jack." Once we've danced round and about that tree, the detective concedes that no one knows for certain who this Jack Robinson was.
Wikipedia lines up all the theories about this (mythical) Jack Robinson and adds a few more, right here.
Enjoy!
As for me, it's back to the draft, faster than you can say...
Well. You know.
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| Off and running! No time to linger! From More Celtic Fairy Tales, Jacobs, J., New York: G. P. Putnam's sons; London: D Nutt (1894), illustration by John Dickson Batten? [Public domain] |
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2 comments:
There is a music connection, although too late for your timeframe. Roy Fox and His Orchestra had an album in 1936-37 with a track entitled "Quicker Than You Can Say Jack Robinson".
Hello Liz!
Ah! That's an interesting one! Of course, I had to go see if I could find a recording online. And here it is, on YouTube, in all of its 1930s glory... Really a wonderful time-traveling experience! https://youtu.be/SXe6bKnbP6g
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