# "Cut to the chase" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 14, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273 "2005-04-14T12:51:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Steve\_McQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQueen)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/21 "2005-04-18T17:01:56Z")
i guess i’d always thought “chase” was some variant of “quick” – meaning the sensitive flesh under the fingernails. so i kind of figured chase and quick were both shorthand for “the important matter.” i seem to remember the phrase “cutting to the quick” in “lord of the flies.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/22 "2005-04-18T17:31:24Z")
And now you know better. 🙂 Welcome aboard. And may I say I loved your chase in _Bullitt?_ The rest of the movie sucked but that chase was great. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Steve\_McQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQueen)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/23 "2005-04-18T17:43:18Z")
well, i never claimed to be gene hackman… > [@dropzone](#): > > Welcome aboard. And may I say I loved your chase in _Bullitt?_ The rest of the movie sucked but that chase was great. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/24 "2005-04-18T17:45:53Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > D.W.: “So, we start with the scene of him in the office. Then we cut to the scene of him walking down the hall. Then we cut to the scene of him walking out the door. Then we cut to the scene of him in the bar. Then we cut to the scene of him leaving the bar. Then we cut to him in the scene of him getting in his car. Then we cut to the chase scene! So, what do you think?” > > Louis B.: “Show him in the office, show him in the bar, then cut to the chase.” Louis B.: “And what are you doing in my office, anyway? You work at United Artists!” (Minor quibble: McEvoy’s novel _Hollywood Girl_ came out in '29, not '27) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/25 "2005-04-18T19:17:15Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > (Minor quibble: McEvoy’s novel _Hollywood Girl_ came out in '29, not '27) Minor quibble? MINOR?!?!? All of my references are wrong and you say it’s “minor?” Boy-o-boy, I was all set to prove you wrong (my real Reason For Living) but stumbled on this: [http://www.pandorasbox.com/louisebrooks/archive/LBadvertisements/showgirladvert.html](http://www.pandorasbox.com/louisebrooks/archive/LBadvertisements/showgirladvert.html) I have dishonored my daimyo, Cecil, with my error. Please, allow me to perform seppuku so my children will not need to live in the shadow of my disgrace. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/26 "2005-04-18T19:20:07Z")
Before killing myself, I’d like to point out that NOBODY (except Ed and Dex) has questioned my characterization of _The French Connection,_ movie and chase, as boring. Sounds like you’ve all seen it. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/27 "2005-04-18T20:27:28Z")
**dropzone** , Staff Reports only appear on the website, and since they’re written by us mortal beings (unlike Columns by Cecil), they can be amended. Let **TUBADIVA** know what you’d like changed, if anything. How about the theory that the saying was first heard by the dress-maker who designed the wardrobe for Elka Chase, suggesting that there was too much material in the dress and so they should… Or the theory that it was originally about slicing fruit, and “cut to the grapes” but it got distorted in the 15th Century because Henry VIII lisped the “gr” to a “ch”? Or the theory that it was about the fabric on a lounge chair, which is exactly nine yards long, given rise to both “cut to the chaise” and "the whole ni-- mfffffffffff [CENSORED BY STAFF] ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/28 "2005-04-18T20:45:32Z")
[posted by **dropzone** ’s spirit] I’m sorry, but you replied too late. Uh, could we have a cleanup in Aisle 5? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/29 "2005-04-18T20:53:14Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > How about the theory that the saying was first heard by the dress-maker who designed the wardrobe for Elka Chase . . . That’s _Ilka_ Chase. [**Dex** and **Drop** gang up on **Eve** , there is a splash in the Hudson River, and she is seen no more . . .] ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/30 "2005-04-18T21:12:26Z")
No worries, Eve. I’m too busy working out the details of a time machine so I can go back to 1925 for a menage a trois with Louise Brooks and the elegant, if not classically beautiful, Ilka Chase. Yes, I am aware that the menage is very nearly as unlikely as the time machine but no goals, no glory, as my coffee cup says. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/31 "2005-04-18T23:44:01Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Louis B.: “And what are you doing in my office, anyway? You work at United Artists!” Well, that might be true of **D.W. Griffith** , but in this case I refer to the lesser known **D.W. Frepplesnork** , director of such classics as _Birth of a Small Village_ and that civil war epic _Persnicketiness_. Both admittedly derivitive works intended for the yet to be invented Betamax market. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/32 "2005-04-19T00:55:30Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Well, that might be true of **D.W. Griffith** , but in this case I refer to the lesser known **D.W. Frepplesnork** , director of such classics as _Birth of a Small Village_ and that civil war epic _Persnicketiness_. Both admittedly derivitive works intended for the yet to be invented Betamax market. Ah, yes, Frepplesnork! I’m a big fan of his art drama, _Busted Buds_. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/33 "2005-04-19T01:04:56Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Ah, yes, Frepplesnork! I’m a big fan of his art drama, _Busted Buds_. I prefer _Far Up West_ and _The Minor Difficulty_, myself. Pity that no print of _That Common Girl_ survives. ---
**Author:** ![ItBitKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ea666f/32.png) [@ItBitKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ItBitKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/34 "2005-04-19T05:29:37Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Chill, **Dex**. It was MY report so I get to be the wiseass. I get so few opportunities on this message board. 😉 > > Thank you for your hypothesis, **ItBitKitty** , since, if my experience on this message board is any indication, my greatest joy is being proven wrong as publicly and embarassingly as possible. Do you have any citations with which you can support your suggestion? Thanks for the welcome dropzone, dex, I’ve been looking and made a few calls to some friends, havn’t gotten back with them yet. Let you know though! It was just a thought, seems something in the back of my head remembered hearing it. Curious though to know if anyone knows the origan of the term hissyfit? ---
**Author:** ![ItBitKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ea666f/32.png) [@ItBitKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ItBitKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/35 "2005-04-19T06:02:20Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Chill, **Dex**. It was MY report so I get to be the wiseass. I get so few opportunities on this message board. 😉 > > Thank you for your hypothesis, **ItBitKitty** , since, if my experience on this message board is any indication, my greatest joy is being proven wrong as publicly and embarassingly as possible. Do you have any citations with which you can support your suggestion? Thanks for the welcome dropzone, dex, I’ve been looking and made a few calls to some friends, havn’t gotten back with them yet. Let you know though! It was just a thought, seems something in the back of my head remembered hearing it. Curious though to know if anyone knows the origan of the term hissyfit? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/36 "2005-04-19T11:40:00Z")
Interesting question, **ItBitKitty** … I suggest you go to the forum called “General Questions” and start a thread asking about “hissyfit” there. We try (it’s a losing battle, but we try) to keep each thread somewhat on-topic, so that future readers looking for something have something more than a proverbial snowball’s chance of finding it. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/37 "2005-04-19T18:36:48Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > …and _The Minor Difficulty_ Indeed, an amazingly prescient courtroom drama (considering the M. Jackson hoopla). Years ahead of it’s time in dealing with such sensitive subject matter. Alright, I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/38 "2005-04-22T00:01:24Z")
Coincidentally, I just got my copy of Asra Nomani’s new book _Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam_. A review blurb on the back cover exclaims, > [@](#): > > Asra Nomani not only cuts to the chase; she is the chase." ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/39 "2005-04-22T02:41:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Asra Nomani not only cuts to the chase; she is the chase. (puzzled look) Any guesses what the reviewer might have meant by that? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273/40 "2005-04-22T23:55:40Z")
I think he means that she herself (her personal experiences, it’s an autobiographical book), is the exciting part of her story. She’s an exciting, intriguing woman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cut-to-the-chase/299273.md?page=3)