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

gobbledygook
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one comes forward. <strong>The</strong> headmaster admonished
them both for about an hour, then considered they had
been punished enough and told them to go and sin no
more. See also let him who is without sin cast
the fi rst stone.
gobbledygook (gobbldeegook) Indecipherable
nonsense. This word was coined in 1944 by Maury
Maverick, a Texan lawyer and congressman who
objected to the long- winded jargon used by
bureaucrats, and thus (intentionally or not) likened
it to the gobbling cry of turkeys. “<strong>The</strong> extract
reads as gobbledygook if it is read as a speech by
one individual” (G. Yule and G. Brown, Discourse
Analysis, 1991).
God and mammon See mammon.
Godfather, <strong>The</strong> A person who exerts complete
authority within a par tic u lar sphere. <strong>The</strong> term has
strong associations with the criminal world, specifi
cally with the mafi a, as refl ected in Mario
Puzo’s best- selling novel <strong>The</strong> Godfather (1969) and
the celebrated trilogy of movies based on it,
directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In modern
usage, therefore, a Godfather is a criminal leader
who expects unquestioning obedience and devotion
from his underlings, who risk severe
retribution for any act of rebellion. <strong>The</strong> local godfathers
are rumored to be planning to get together to carve
up the gambling industry across the state. See also offer
you can’t refuse, an.
God forbid May it never happen (used as a strong
exclamation of dissent). <strong>The</strong> phrase appears in the
Bible in Genesis 44:7 and in many subsequent passages,
usually as a translation of the Hebrew halilah,
from the verb halal, meaning “to defi le or
pollute.” It was William Tyndale in his En glish
translation of the Bible, begun in 1525, who
settled on “God forbid” as his preferred En glish
translation (in spite of the fact that God is not
mentioned in corresponding Hebrew and Greek
idioms). “If this cleaving distrust from which I cannot
free myself should be in very truth the mute
prophecy of evil to come—to come, I know not
when—if it be so (which God forbid!), how soon
she may want a friend, a protector near at hand, a
ready refuge in the time of her trouble!” (Wilkie
Collins, After Dark, 1856).
god from a machine See deus ex machina.
Godiva, Lady See lady godiva.
Godot See waiting for godot.
go down to the sea in ships To journey across
the sea by boat. <strong>The</strong> expression is biblical in origin,
appearing in Psalm 107:23: “<strong>The</strong>y that go
down to the sea in ships, that do business in great
waters; <strong>The</strong>se see the works of the LORD, and his
wonders in the deep.” <strong>The</strong> phrase has become a
cliché for the business of seafaring and was probably
the inspiration for the famous opening lines
of John Masefi eld’s poem “Sea Fever” (1902): “I
must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea
and sky.”
God protect me from my friends <strong>The</strong> biggest
threat comes from one’s friends, not one’s enemies.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to a 1956 book of the same title by
Gavin Maxwell about the Sicilian bandit Salvatore
Giuliano (1922–50). Similar sentiments can be
dated back much earlier in various forms, often
followed or preceded by “I can protect myself from
my enemies.” “God protect me from my friends” muttered
the gang’s boss as he was led into the court.