Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 21:27:35 -0500

From: Gregory {Greg} Downing downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU

Subject: Re: Is "quit, quit now" a catchphrase?



At 09:17 PM 11/14/97 -0500, you wrote:

Query: a Japanese correspondent of mine from the Joyce email list wondered

if the phrase "quit, quit now" is a current US catchphrase. I only recognize

it in a very general way, in that the formula "[imperative verb],

[imperative verb] now" seems desperately emphatic. Does anyone recognize the

phrase in question as a distinctive locution?



Not per se, but it might be related to the "Be afraid, be very afraid" line

from the Jeff Goldblum remake of "The Fly" a few years back.



I'd thought of that as somehow parallel, but I wasn't sure it was close

enough. Certianly could be, though. But I didn't where the "B A, B V A" line

had come from! It really doesn't go back any further than that? Anyway, I

*have* heard *that* line a lot the past few years, in the media and in "real

life."



Thanks again. Additional ideas?



Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu