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

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Dada (dahdah, dada) In the arts, characterized
by outrageous eccentricity and rejection of convention.
<strong>The</strong> Dada movement developed as a challenge
to the complacency of art critics and
middle- class society in general in the wake of
World War I, led by such innovative surrealist artists
as Salvador Dali (1904–89) and Man Ray
(1890–1976). <strong>The</strong> name of the movement was
chosen by the Alsatian artist Hans (or Jean) Arp
(1887–1966), who decided upon it by stabbing a
French dictionary with a knife and thus picking
out the French word for “hobby-horse.” <strong>The</strong> term
Dadaist (or Daliesque) may be applied today to
any instance of apparently outlandish or nonsensical
thinking or behavior. He awoke unrefreshed after
eight hours of disturbing Dadaist nightmares.
Dad’s Army A group of men, or people generally,
who are considered too old to act in a competent
manner. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the Home Guard that
was assembled by the British government to defend
the country from German invasion during World
War II. Though evidently as willing and courageous
as troops in the other armed forces, many Home
Guard recruits were too old to fi ght in the regular
army, hence their reputation for bumbling feebleness.
<strong>The</strong> nickname Dad’s Army was later taken up
as the title of a pop u lar BBC tele vi sion series of the
1970s that lovingly and comically dramatized the
misadventures of a Home Guard platoon. <strong>The</strong> railway
is manned by a Dad’s Army of volunteer rail enthusiasts,
most over the age of 60.
Daedalian (didayleebn) Skillful, ingenious, or
labyrinthine. <strong>The</strong> adjective, also encountered in
the variant forms Daedalean or Daedalic, refers
to the legendary Athenian craftsman Daedalus,
who was renowned for his skill as an inventor and
engineer. Having fl ed his native Athens after murdering
his pupil Talos in a fi t of professional jealousy,
he was employed by King Minos of Crete
and built the wooden cow with which Queen
Pasiphae coupled and consequently gave birth to
the monstrous Minotaur. Daedalus also designed
the labyrinth at Knossos in which the Minotaur
was imprisoned until its eventual destruction at the
hands of <strong>The</strong>seus. <strong>The</strong> outraged King Minos, realizing
that <strong>The</strong>seus could never have escaped from
the labyrinth without the help of its creator, had
Daedalus and his son Icarus confi ned there, knowing
that not even they could fi nd the way out without
aid. Daedalus, however, overcame the problem
by designing two pairs of wings with which he and
his son were able to soar into the air and escape
from Crete. Unfortunately, Icarus ignored his
father’s warning not to fl y too high as the heat of