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