Jack Robinson is a name present in two common figures of speech. When referring to Jack Robinson, it is used to represent quickness. In contrast, the phrase "round Jack Robinson's barn" has the opposite connotation, implying slowness, as it is often used to refer to circumlocution, circumvention, or doing things in roundabout or unnecessarily complicated ways.
Etymology and common variants
Connoting quickness
Multiple citations explain references to Jack Robinson as meaning quickness of thought or deed. The normal usage is, " faster than you can say Jack Robinson", or otherwise, "before you can say Jack Robinson". The phrase can be traced back to the eighteenth century. ;Examples:
According to Grose's Classical Dictionary, the reference is to an individual whose social visits were so short that he would be departing almost before his arrival was announced.
Supposedly, an Englishgentleman of the early nineteenth century named Jack Robinson was a person who changed his mind. A person had to be quick to catch him in a decision.
Sir John Robinson, the Constable of the Tower of London from 1660-79, held at the same time a judiciary appointment in the nearby City of London, and could and did condemn a felon in the City, then have him transported to the Tower where he commanded the execution, with the entire process completed "faster than you can say Jack Robinson".
John "Jack" Robinson was Joint Secretary to the Treasury in England from 1770 to 1782 and regularly acted as a Government Whip, responsible for organising elections and political patronage. Of his reputation for political fixing, Nathaniel Wraxall wrote: "No man in the House knew so much of its original composition, the means by which every individual attained his seat, and, in many instances, how far and through what channels he might prove accessible." Therefore, fixing something "faster than you can say 'Jack Robinson'" was very fast indeed.
Yet another story relates the origin of the phrase to a comic song of the 1840s, written and performed by one Tom Hudson, which tells of a sailor who returns from a voyage to discover that his wife has married another sailor in his absence.
;Variants The similar phrase, "Before you can say 'Knife!'", dates from at least 1850, when it appeared in Charles Dickens' Household Words. In the late nineteenth century we have Sooner than ye'll say “Jock Hector!”, He'll them describe or draw their picture.
Connoting slowness or roundaboutness
In contrast, the phrase "round Jack Robinson's barn" has the opposite connotation, implying slowness, as it is often used to refer to circumlocution, circumvention, or doing things in roundabout or unnecessarily complicated ways. In response to an inquiry by Ken Greenwald, Joan Houston Hall researched the term's etymology. Her findings are listed below, chronologically. ;Examples
cite news|title=We went AROUND ROBINSON’S BARN to get you out of there and over here? They either tailed you, as we did, or they tailed me.|work=Analog Science Fiction / Science Fact| page= 24|date=1930|url=http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=19855|location=U.S.cite news|title=He criticized the State’s method of check and double-check in the construction of any, saying it was ‘RUNNING AROUND ROBINSON’S BARN to get something done.’|work=The New York Times|date= 26 October 1932| page =33|url=http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=19855|location=U.S.cite news|title=... the Englishman , quite properly, I think, may reply that after the American has fussed and frittered all the way AROUND ROBINSON’S BARN he usually, if he is a good writer, comes very close to the place from which the Englishman never left.|work=The Washington Post|date=17 December 1933| page =SM11|location=U.S.|url=http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=19855cite news|title=Upset and going ALL AROUND ROBINSONS BARN before finally getting to anger because of last week’s cancellation.|work=Rorschach's Test|author=Beck, Samuel Jacob |page =143|date=1944|location=U.S.|url=http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=19855cite news|title=Will you please elucidate? But do not GO ALL THE WAY AROUND ROBINSON’S BARN, as I have noticed you are sometimes inclined to do.|work=Courier-Journal|location=Louisville, Kentucky|date= 4 January 1951|page=Section 2|url=http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=19855cite news|title=Stop Meandering Deliveries... Money Down the Drain. Route your trucks the shortest way every trip. The time and gas used by your drivers looking for unknown streets, driving ALL AROUND ROBINSON’S BARN to make deliveries, will buy you a hundred maps like Hearne’s Street Map of your city and county area|work=The Washington Post|date= 18 November 1952| page= 2|location=U.S.|url=http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=19855cite news|title=What was the use of ‘beating around the bush’ or of ‘going AROUND JACK ROBINSON’S BARN?’|work=Anchor Post|author=Johnston, Faith
