# "Need Answer Fast" **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 31, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast/837903 "2019-07-31T00:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast/837903/1 "2019-07-31T00:11:31Z")
I’ve been reading and even posting on the SDMB for nigh upon 20 years, and I know that saying one’s question either emphatically does or does not “need [an] answer fast” has been a running joke for most of that time. But what was the seminal post d’urgence that spawned this inside joke? A few bizarre posts have stuck in my mind, and those of others, like the rant that threatened “I burning your dog” or the jaw-dropping “lion vs. tiger” OP, but if there was a particularly catchy “need answer fast” post that started it all, I’ve long since forgotten it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast/837903/2 "2019-07-31T03:46:33Z")
Given the time that has elapsed I assume you weren’t needing a fast answer? 😉 I believe it was already in vogue about the turn of the century. For all I know it could go back to the AOL days. But like the zombie/brains thing and the countless Monty Python and _Airplane!_ quotes they were just sort of ------ there. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast/837903/3 "2019-07-31T04:45:27Z")
As I recall, the original was in a GQ question about parachuting. I haven’t found it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast/837903/4 "2019-07-31T04:57:22Z")
Here it is: [Best Way to Survive Falling at Terminal Velocity (Need answer fast)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9139047&posted=1#post9139047) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast/837903/5 "2019-07-31T06:40:00Z")
Wow! Much more recent than I would have ever thought. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-answer-fast/837903/6 "2019-07-31T18:00:39Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Here it is: > > [Best Way to Survive Falling at Terminal Velocity (Need answer fast)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9139047&posted=1#post9139047) haha, yes, I think that may be “it”! To **kopek** ’s point, it’s possible this phrase had already seen use somewhere else on the Internet… But I remembered associating it with the SDMB in particular, because of its early origins as a place to get answers, a la Cecil’s columns. How about a digest of all the OPs with a subject line including “need answer fast”? Heh heh. (BTW, I am still working on **14 K of P in a F P D**. I feel like I am close to solving it.)