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

efers to the popularity of chips (French fries)
among the working class in the postwar period,
when they were served as an accompaniment to
almost any kind of dish. In his play, Wesker
lamented this lack of a sense of adventure in ordinary
British working- class life: “You breed babies
and you eat chips with everything.” This survey shows
that the pop u lar “chips with everything” image of the
British working class has changed little over the years.
Chiron (kiron) Archetype of a wise teacher.
According to Greek mythology Chiron was unique
among the centaurs in being wise and kind in
nature. He was skilled at hunting and in various
arts and in his turn served as tutor to many heroes,
including Achilles and Jason. When accidentally
hit by a poisoned arrow fi red by his friend Hercules
while in battle with the other centaurs, Chiron
chose to die and passed his immortality on to Prometheus.
His name is preserved today as that of a
minor planet between Saturn and Uranus discovered
in 1977. “Something less unpleasingly oracular
he tried to extract; but the old sea Chiron,
thinking perhaps that for the nonce he had suffi -
ciently instructed his young Achilles, pursed his
lips, gathered all his wrinkles together, and would
commit himself to nothing further” (Herman Melville,
Billy Budd, 1924).
Chloe (kloee) A rustic maiden; a shepherdess. A
character of the same name appears in the Greek
pastoral romance Daphnis and Chloe by the Greek
writer Longus, who lived in the third century a.d.
Asleep on the haystack, her fl ock idly grazing all around,
she seemed a true Chloe, as though she had lived in the
country all her life. See also daphnis and chloe.
chosen few A select group of people who enjoy
par tic u lar favor. <strong>The</strong> expression comes from
Matthew 22:14: “For many are called, but few are
chosen.” “He considered the years to come when
Kim would have been entered and made to the
Great Game that never ceases day and night,
throughout India. He foresaw honour and credit in
the mouths of a chosen few, coming to him from
his pupil” (Rudyard Kipling, Kim, 1901). See also
chosen people.
chosen instrument A person entrusted with a
par tic u lar responsibility. <strong>The</strong> phrase appears in
Acts 9:15, in which God tells Ananias that he has
selected Paul to represent him among men: “Go
thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear
my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the
children of Israel.” “I was wondering, in my own
mind, whether the day of his downfall had come at
last, and whether you were the chosen instrument
for working it” (Wilkie Collins, <strong>The</strong> Woman in
White, 1860).
chosen people A group of people considered
select or particularly marked out. In the Bible
the phrase is associated with Israel, and in the
New Testament the church: “But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a
peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9). “<strong>The</strong> folk here
are civil, and, like the barbarians unto the holy
apostle, hae shown me much kindness; and there
are a sort of chosen people in the land, for they
hae some kirks without organs that are like ours,
and are called meeting- houses, where the minister
preaches without a gown” (Sir Walter Scott,
<strong>The</strong> Heart of Midlothian, 1818). See also chosen
few.
Christian See pilgrim’s progress.
Christie, Agatha See agatha christie.
Christie, Agatha
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