Allusions
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Sold down the River
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Homeowners sell house slaves to planations in South, Miss River, felt betrayed bc house slave was better
Betrayed or mislead by someone trusted - Nemesis
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Goddess of vengeance, punished people for excessive pride
That which causes a persons downfall - Pyrrhic Victory
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Pyrrus = general in Greece, defeated Romans but lost many "Such another great vicotry and we are ruined"
Winner's vicotry comes at such a great expense that it is scarcely better than losing - Flash in the Pan
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Rifels had ingition pan with gunpoder, if powder lit but not propelling charge, flash in plan but gun didn't fire
Initially shows promise but fails to meet expectations - Scapegoat
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Leviticus, Day of Atonement, priest places sins of Isrealites on goat and sends it out to wild
Person who is blamed or punished for some else's misdeeds - Don Quixote/Tilting at Windmills
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Cervantes, Don and Sancho attack windmills thinking they're giants
Naive attempt to be heroic - Benedict Arnold
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Military leader during American Revolution, aggreed to surrender fort to Brithish in exchange for $, plan revealed, Arnold ran away and lived life in Britian
Traitor - Delphic Oracle
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Greece, Deplhi - Temple of Apollo, people came with questions, Appollo's priestess would go into trance and eliver riddle like answers
Prediction that is hard to interpret - Over a Barrel
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Rescued from drowning, held over barrel so whater could drain from lungs, dependent of rescuers
Unable to act independently and must do bidding of others - Shibboleth
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Hebrew for ear of corn, Old Test, Isrealites used as password to prevent enemies from entering their camp, pronounced it wrong
Slogan associated with a particular group - Double speak
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Orwell refered to propaganda practiced by state where language was used ambiguously
Deliberate use of evasive language - Murphy's Law
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1940s, "If anything can go wrong, it will"
Always a sense of inevitability if something goes wrong - Medusa
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Gorgons = 3 sisters with snakes for hair, turned anyone who looked at them to stone
Repulsive or terrifying woman, wild hair - Hoist with one's own Petard
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Weapon used in medieval, if exploded too early than person using it would blow up
Being caught in one's own trap, beaten at one's own game - Philistines
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Old Test, enemies of Isrealites, David fought Phil Goliath
No appreciation for culture, tastes are commonplace - Faust
- Christopher Marlowe, Geothe, Faust strikes bargain with Mephistopheles (devil), F does something in exchange for desire4s fufilled, F spends much of life in despair
- Coals to Newcaste
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Coal mining in N. England, carrying coal = superfluous
Making a contribution that is gratious and unnecessary - Freudian Slip
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Sigmund Freud, physician, worked with subconcious mind in human behavior
Unintentional/accidental error in speech or action that reveals one's subconscious desires - Sisyphus
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King who offended Zeus, punishment = eternity in Hades, neverending rolling bolder up hill
Seemingly endless task - Methuselah
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Oldest patriarch in Bible, 969 years old
Extremely old person - Scylla and Charybdis
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S = many headed sea monster, C = whirpool, sailors had to reach cave on side of narrow strait by steering ships carefully
Caught between 2 dongers, avoiding one = getting glose to another - Holy Grail
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HG = cup from Jesus drank at Last Supper, King Aruthur and Kinghts at the Round Table, perfection, object of quest
Object that is extremely desirable/valuable, attaniable only after long and difficult quest - Luddites
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British laborers, opposed industralization bc threaten job, leader = Ned Ludd, smashed textile machinery
Someone who opposed change - Pass the Buck
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Buck = marker passed to person whose turn to deal in poker, Harry Truman desk = "The busk stops here"
Shift responsibly and blame another person - Babylon
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Capital of Bablonian empire, luxury and corruption, Jews exiled
Place of decadence and corruption - Phoenix/Rising from Ashes
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Bird that lives for 500 years and burns itself to death and rises from ashes to live again
Rebirth/ressurection, surmounting great obstacles - Xanadu
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City in Mongolia, Kublai Kahn lived, poem "Kubla Khan" - Sam Coleridge
Magnificant, beautiful magical place - Muckrakers
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Roosevelt, critized reform-minded journalists - focused on muck and raked it up, journalists meant it as badge of honor
Authours/journalists who expose corruption - Sine Qua Non
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Latin, "Without which, nothing"
Essential ingredient without which a situation would be impossible