The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

carried on at the wedding, in front of all the guests, was
totally beyond the pale.
Bhopal (bopahl) A serious industrial accident,
especially one on a big scale. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the
disastrous leaking of methyl isocyanate gas from
the Union Carbide insecticide plant that occurred
at Bhopal, India, on December 3, 1984. Some
2,000 people died and many more suffered severe
side effects. <strong>The</strong>re were also serious environmental
effects. Steps have been taken to prevent another
Bhopal taking place.
bible An authoritative book or other source of
information. <strong>The</strong> word is most familiar as the
name for the collected sacred writings of Christianity,
consisting of the Old and New Testaments
and in certain versions the Apocrypha. <strong>The</strong> word
itself comes from the Greek biblion (meaning
“book”), which in turn derives from biblos (meanings
“papyrus”), named after Bublos, the Phoenician
port where the Greeks obtained Egyptian
papyrus. This pamphlet is a bible for everyone in the
motivational seminar industry.
Bibulus (bibyoolbs) An idler; an offi ce holder
who does no actual work. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to Bibulus,
an ally of Julius Caesar who held high offi ce
but acted merely as a cipher for his friend. <strong>The</strong>
deputy president of the company is widely regarded as a
yes- man for the board, a real Bibulus.
Bickle, Travis See travis bickle.
Big Apple <strong>The</strong> city of New York, or any other
major city. According to one theory, the nickname
was coined by black jazz musicians who saw the
cities, particularly New York, as the places where
they would have the best chance of getting a “bite
of the apple.” Another theory claims that the nickname
was fi rst applied to New York City in the
1920s by the journalist John J. FitzGerald, who
had heard it in use among black stable hands in
New Orleans when referring to the city’s racetracks.
<strong>The</strong>y left the Midwest to set up a chain of restaurants
in the Big Apple.
big bad wolf A villain or other threat. <strong>The</strong> allusion
is to the traditional story of <strong>The</strong> Three Little
Pigs, who are menaced one after another in their
respective homes of straw, twigs, and bricks by the
Big Bad Wolf, who seeks to blow the houses down
and eat their own ers. <strong>The</strong> tag is often applied to
men who have the reputation of being sexual predators.
“I do get a bit tired of being the permanent Big
Bad Wolf ” (Diane Pearson, Voices of Summer, 1993).
big bang A major event that triggers a signifi cant
change or the beginning of something. <strong>The</strong> term is
particularly associated with the im mense explosion
that is believed to have given birth to the
universe, but it has also been applied to the modernization
of the British Stock Exchange in 1986,
among a range of other events. We are preparing for
the big bang that will transform the country’s civil
administration in six months’ time.
Big Bertha (berthb) A large machine, especially
a large weapon. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to a massive cannon
used by the Germans to shell the Allied positions
at Liège and Namur during World War I. It was
nicknamed Big Bertha after Bertha Krupp, a member
of the Krupp family of armaments manufacturers,
though in fact the gun had been made at
the Skoda works. <strong>The</strong> nickname was also applied
to another big gun used to shell Paris in 1918,
and is sometimes given insultingly to oversized
women. <strong>The</strong> Iraqi supergun was a modern Big Bertha,
Big Bertha
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