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

Mulder, Fox
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Mulder, Fox See x-fi les.
Munchausen (muunchhowzbn) A teller of tall
tales, an outrageous liar. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to Baron
Munchausen, whose many far- fetched adventures
are described in Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of his
Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Rus sia (1785), by
the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe (1736–
94). Raspe based his fi ctional character on the real
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen
(1720–97), a German baron who served
with the Rus sian army against the Turks and later
told exaggerated stories about his escapades,
which included fl ying on a cannonball and pulling
himself out of a swamp by his own hair. <strong>The</strong> term
has also entered the fi eld of medicine: patients
with Munchausen syndrome lie about their non exis
tent symptoms in order to gain medical treatment.
It was a tall story worthy of Baron Munchausen
himself.
Munchkin (munchkin) A small person or child,
or someone who is otherwise insignifi cant. <strong>The</strong>
allusion is to Frank L. Baum’s novel <strong>The</strong> Wizard Of
Oz (1900), in which the Munchkins appear as a
race of diminutive beings who live in the land of
Oz. “Jo looked like a Munchkin in anything that
showed her legs” (Celia Brayfi eld, <strong>The</strong> Prince,
1990). See also wizard of oz.
Munich Agreement See peace in our time;
piece of paper.
Munich Putsch See putsch.
Munsters, <strong>The</strong> (munsterz) A family or other
group of people who share a grotesque, monstrous
appearance. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the classic 1960s
U.S. tele vi sion series <strong>The</strong> Munsters, which comi-
cally depicted the home life of a family of assorted
ghoulish characters, namely frankenstein-lookalike
Herman Munster and his vampire wife Lily
Munster, father- in- law Grandpa, and son Eddie,
as well as the weirdly very ordinary all- American
niece Marilyn. <strong>The</strong> house was old and creepy, like
something out of <strong>The</strong> Munsters. See also addams
family.
Murder, Inc. A crime syndicate that provides
hired hitmen to carry out contract killings. Murder,
Inc. was formed in the 1930s and its so- called
enforcers are believed to have been responsible
for several hundred murders, almost exclusively
of rival gangsters. <strong>The</strong> or ga ni za tion disintegrated
in the 1940s under pressure from the authorities.
<strong>The</strong> FBI are not Murder, Inc. and do not execute suspects
out of hand. See also mafi a.
Muses Personifi cations of artistic and creative
inspiration. In Greek mythology the Muses were
nine in number, namely Clio (the muse of history),
Euterpe (of lyric poetry), Thalia (of comedy),
Melpomene (of tragedy), Terpsichore (of
choral dance and song), Erato (of love songs),
Polyhymnia (of songs to the gods), Urania (of
astronomy), and Calliope (of epic poetry). <strong>The</strong>y
were identifi ed as the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne
(the goddess of memory) and had a temple
on Mount helicon in Boeotia. Related words
include music and museum. He tottered on the edge
of the cliff, bottle in hand, lamenting loudly that the
Muses had deserted him and there was nothing left to
live for. See also mosaic; tenth muse.
music of the spheres A type of celestial music
supposedly created by the movements of the
spheres, which in the Ptolemaic system of cosmology
carried the planets and stars around the Earth.