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

Melpomene See muses.
meltdown A situation in which events move
irrevocably toward total disaster. <strong>The</strong> reference is
to nuclear reactions, specifi cally to what happens
if a radioactive core becomes overheated and
melts, releasing radioactivity: In theory there
would be nothing to stop the molten core burning
its way right through the earth, with even
more catastrophic effects. Meltdowns of varying
degrees became reality as a result of the nuclear
accidents that occurred at three mile island in
1979 and, more seriously, at chernobyl in 1986.
<strong>The</strong> or ga ni za tion has been in meltdown since the resignation
of the entire board of directors. See also china
syndrome.
Menalcas (menalkas) A shepherd or other rural
character. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to a minor character in
Virgil’s Eclogues (42–37 b.c.) and also in the Idylls
of <strong>The</strong>ocritus (c. 310–250 b.c.). <strong>The</strong> crew eventually
found what they wanted in the local bar, a withered old
Menalcas who knew everything about the hills and forests
and, even better, all there was to know about the
folklore of the region.
men are from Mars, women are from Venus Men
and women have fundamentally different outlooks
on the world. <strong>The</strong> notion that men and women are
so different that they might seem to come from
different planets was the premise of a best- selling
book of the same title, published in 1992 by U.S.
family therapist Dr. John Gray (b. 1951). Many a
marriage has faltered when one or both partners have
forgotten the basic reality that while men are from Mars,
women are from Venus.
mend one’s fences To repair damaged relationships.
<strong>The</strong> allusion here is to the U.S. statesman
John Sherman (1823–1900), brother of the celebrated
Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman,
who when planning his next po liti cal advance
in Washington made a strategic visit to his farm in
Ohio to renew connections with, and thus regain
the support of, local voters. When asked by reporters
what he was doing back at his farm in Ohio,
Sherman replied that he was mending fences,
hence the modern meaning of the expression. She
had not spoken with her mother for years, but now the
time had come to mend some fences.
mene, mene, tekel, upharsin See writing on the
wall.
Menechmians (menekmeebnz) People who
resemble one another closely. <strong>The</strong> word originated
in reference to the comedy Menaechmi by Plautus
(c. 254–184 b.c.), the plot of which depends on
the confusions of identity resulting from the striking
similarity between the central characters.
Centuries later it provided the basis for <strong>The</strong> Comedy
of Errors (c. 1594) by William Shakespeare.
When they were dressed similarly, few people could tell
these two Menechmians apart, and many were the confusions
and embarrassments that ensued.
men in black Secret agents, especially ones who
work for the government in an attempt to suppress
the truth about contact with aliens. <strong>The</strong>
notion that such extraterrestrial contacts were
being kept quiet by various governments through
the agency of their “men in black” became current
during the 1950s and has been a theme of various
best- selling science- fi ction books and big- bud get
Hollywood movies, such as Close Encounters of
the Third Kind (1977) and Men in Black (1997). <strong>The</strong>
success of the latter gave more currency to the
phrase, as did its use in the x-fi les tele vi sion
men in black
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