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Why is it called 'quicksand' if you sink into it slowly?

This is from the movie 'Blazing Saddles'.

Posted - May 1, 2022

Responses


  • 32527
    It is not about the speed of sinking in the sand.  

    It is about the sand moving as if it were alive and eating you.
      May 1, 2022 2:23 PM MDT
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  • 2969

    Quicksand can panic someone very fast, however for humans it is escapable. 
    I am prepared to survive a quicksand experience through research I have done. 
    This post was edited by Honey Dew at May 2, 2022 12:26 PM MDT
      May 1, 2022 3:00 PM MDT
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  • 1633
    The sinking may be a slow, arduous process but, I'm sure once submerged, the death is fairly quick... although not so much painless!
      May 1, 2022 3:19 PM MDT
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  • 2969
    Quicksand is usually not more than a few feet deep.  One can float on quicksand. Animals however are not so lucky in escaping. 
      May 1, 2022 4:21 PM MDT
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  • 13251
    They escaped it in your “Blazing Saddles” scene.
      May 1, 2022 3:51 PM MDT
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  • 44173
    Heck yes...they wanted to save the cart.
      May 1, 2022 4:44 PM MDT
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  • 9777
    I always thought it was because another meaning for quick is alive. So the sand acts like it's alive.
      May 1, 2022 7:05 PM MDT
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  • 16197
    Are you stealing my old questions on purpose?

    https://answermug.com/forums/topic/90097/why-do-they-call-it-quot-quicksand-quot-when-it-sucks-you-down
      May 2, 2022 3:46 AM MDT
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  • 44173
    Yes...I got more answers, too.
      May 2, 2022 7:38 AM MDT
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  • 16197
      May 2, 2022 7:48 AM MDT
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  • 7407
    I don’t have an answer but I do remember when I was a kid thinking quicksand was going to be a bigger issue in life than it turned out to be.  
      May 2, 2022 10:22 AM MDT
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  • 44173
    I think it's called tundra up there.
      May 2, 2022 3:04 PM MDT
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  • 7407
    perhaps. 
      May 6, 2022 4:53 PM MDT
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  • 10029
    LOL! So true! I had nightmares about quicksand after seeing it on Gilligan's Island and Land of the Lost! 


      May 2, 2022 4:33 PM MDT
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  • 7407
    Lol :) glad to know I wasn’t the only one with this irrational fear. 
      May 6, 2022 4:54 PM MDT
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  • 44173
    And every Tarzan movie.
      May 6, 2022 7:41 PM MDT
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  • 1340
    Ah, interesting story: the first British explorer to be warned of it claimed he was "quick and--." Tragically, he never finished his sentence.
      May 2, 2022 12:24 PM MDT
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  • 3680
    I think Jane S has the nearest answer: a reference to the sand being "alive".

    The use of quick to mean alive is archaic for normal use although it does appear liturgically.

    There is nothing special about the sand itself. The deposit is "quick" thanks to being saturated with water, creating a fluid. I have read the advice for someone caught in it, is to lie flat, and float on it... but I'd rather not put it to the test.

    Although grain is dry, there have reportedly been a few awful cases of farm-workers drowning from falling into a silo full of grain.
      May 2, 2022 5:09 PM MDT
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  • 44173
    That happened here a few years ago.
      May 6, 2022 7:42 PM MDT
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  • 3680
    The drowning in a silo? An awful death.
      May 11, 2022 3:01 PM MDT
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