Allusions Test 3 Semester 2 Origins Flashcards
Freudian Slip
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian physician and psychotherapist whose work centered around the role of the subconscious mind in human behavior. The term “Freudian slip” comes from Freud.
Sisyphus/Sisyphean
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who offended Zeus. His punishment was to spend eternity in Hades, rolling a giant boulder up a hill. Each time the boulder neared the top, it would roll back down to the bottom, and Sisyphus had to start his task over.
Methuselah
Methuselah is the oldest of the patriarchs in the Bible. He lived to be 969 years old.
Scylla and Charybdis
In Greek mythology, Scylla was a many-headed monster, living in a cave on one side of a narrow strait. Charybdis was a whirlpool on the opposite side of the strait. Sailors, including Odysseus and Jason, had to steer their ships very carefully between the two in order to avoid being victim of one or the other.
Holy Grail
In Medieval legend, the Holy Grail was an object of a quest. It was supposedly the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The grail became associated with the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. For the knights, the Holy Grail represented perfection and was constantly sought after.
Luddites
Luddites were British laborers in the early 1800s. They opposed industrialization, fearing that the introduction of labor-saving machinery would threaten their jobs. Their leader, for whom they were named, was a laborer named Ned Ludd. With his encouragement, the workers smashed textile machinery in protest of industrialization.
Pass the Buck
In poker, a “buck” was a marker that was passed to the person whose turn it was to deal. President Harry Truman kept a sign on his desk which read, “The Buck Stops Here.”
Babylon
Babylon was the capital of the ancient Babylonian Empire. The city was known for its luxury and corruption. The Jews were exiled there from 597 to 538 BC, and the prophet Daniel became counselor to the King of Babylon, for whom he interpreted the “handwriting on the wall.” Eventually, the Jews were allowed to return to Israel.
Phoenix/Rising from the Ashes
The phoenix was a mythological bird that was one of a kind. The bird lived for five or six hundred years, after which it would burn itself to death and then rise from its own ashes as a youthful bird ready to live another life span.
Xanadu
Xanadu was an ancient city in Mongolia where the Mongol emperor of China, Kublai Khan had a magnificent residence. Xanadu was made famous by the poem, “Kubla Khan” (1816) by Samuel David Coleridge. The first lines of Coleridge’s poem are: “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure dome decree.”
Muckrakers
President Theodore Roosevelt criticized reform-minded jounralists of his time, saying they constantly focused on the “muck” and spent all their time raking it up. While he meant this as an insult, the journalists adopted the term muckraker as a badge of honor referring to those who exposed corruption or promoted needed reforms. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a prime example of muckraking journalism.
Sine Qua Non
In Latin, this phrase means “without which, nothing.”
