I heard the following dialog in a British English movie:
Words go round quick. All the little tongues go clack, clack, clack.
What does this mean, and why was the word "quick" used instead of "quickly"?
Answer
I see quickly as the correct adverb; I would correct my children if they said:
He's running quick.
However quick is widely used as an adverb, and in some phrases seems to work better:
a get rich quick scheme
Do it, and do it real quick
Some dictionaries do include that quick may be used as an adverb.
President George W Bush
We want to get this bridge rebuilt as quick as possible.
This article has some interesting observations
At to the meaning of the passage. The idea is of information (and suspect in particular malicious gossip) being transmitted very quickly from person to person. The individual tongues working very quickly like components of a machine.
This comes to mind:
A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on
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