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

cutting-room fl oor
110
inertia and po liti cal torpor to bring about reform”
(Guardian Weekly, February 14, 2002). “ ‘Is not such
the doom of all speculative men of talent?’ said
she. ‘Do they not all sit wrapt as you now are, cutting
imaginary silken cords with their fi ne edges,
while those not so highly tempered sever the
everyday Gordian knots of the world’s struggle
and win wealth and renown?’ ” (Anthony Trollope,
Barchester Towers, 1857).
cutting- room fl oor <strong>The</strong> trash can or other destination
where rejected ideas, things, etc., are
dumped. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the movie industry and
the pro cess of editing footage down into a fi nished
movie in the days before computerization, when
the pieces of fi lm not needed were cut out and
literally ended up on the cutting- room fl oor. <strong>The</strong>
term is now widely used in noncinematic contexts.
She was very annoyed when she found that all her
suggestions for future expansion had been left on the
cutting- room fl oor.
cut off at the pass To intercept someone or
something at a point further on. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to
Western movies and the often- fi lmed horse chases
through wild country in which such a line might
be delivered. It enjoyed renewed coverage in 1973
when it was heard being used by President Richard
Nixon in the watergate tapes. <strong>The</strong> phrase is
also encountered in the form head off at the
pass. He was cut off at the pass by his superiors as soon
as they were told what he had in mind.
cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face To do
something against one’s own interests. This
expression is French in origin and is sometimes
associated with the French nobleman Henry of
Navarre. In 1589, the Protestant Henry ascended
the throne of France, in which role he was faced
with strong Catholic opposition in Paris. When
Henry contemplated destroying Paris, his advisers
dissuaded him with the argument that he
would simply be damaging his own interests if
he thus “cut off his nose to spite his face.” Henry
conceded and decided to revert to Catholicism in
order to reclaim the city. When her agent announced
that he would no longer be handling her moneyspinning
tours it was felt that he had cut off his nose to
spite his face.
Cyanean rocks See symplegades.
Cybele (sibilee) Personifi cation of the Earth or
of nature. Cybele was identifi ed as the Phrygian
goddess of nature, equivalent to the Greek Rhea
or Demeter. Her worshipers were noted for their
orgiastic rites, which included much spilling of
blood. “He had scarce fi nished his story, when a
most violent noise shook the whole house . . .
<strong>The</strong> priests of Cybele do not so rattle their sounding
brass” (Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, 1749).
cyclopean (siklopeebn) Anything one- eyed or
limited in vision; a building style characterized by
the use of large undressed blocks of stone. <strong>The</strong>
allusion is to the Cyclops of Greek mythology, one
of a breed of giants (Cyclopes) with only one eye,
located in the middle of the forehead. <strong>The</strong> poet
Hesiod (c. 800 b.c.) said there were just three
Cyclopes, who were cannibals and lived in Sicily
and the western coast of Italy. Others claimed they
lived on volcanoes, forging thunderbolts for Zeus,
and that Mount Etna was their chief abode. To
them were attributed various massive edifi ces
erected by otherwise unknown hands in prehistoric
times. <strong>The</strong> word itself comes from the Greek
kuklos (meaning “circle”) and ops (meaning “eye”).
“He had forgotten that the dead seldom plan their