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

Podunk
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Podunk (podbnk) A small, sleepy town where
the inhabitants are typically narrow- minded or
culturally unaware. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to a small town
of the name near Hartford, Connecticut. Liberal
ideas like this do not usually go down well in Podunk.
pogrom (pogrbm, pogrom) A campaign of
extermination aimed at a par tic u lar ethnic group.
From the Rus sian for “devastation” or “destruction,”
the term was applied originally to the systematic
persecution of the Jews and other minority
groups in Czarist Rus sia, but has since been
applied to similar campaigns elsewhere in the
world, particularly where the victims are Jewish.
Many thousands of Polish Jews were arrested and executed
in concentration camps as a result of Nazi pogroms
during the war.
point man A person who goes ahead, leading the
way forward and in so doing risking the greatest
danger. <strong>The</strong> allusion is of military origin, referring
to the man sent ahead of a patrol to draw any
enemy’s fi re, but the term is also often encountered
in the political sphere. <strong>The</strong> White House spokesman
appears to have become the president’s point man on
this contentious issue.
Poirot, Hercule See hercule poirot.
Pollock, Jackson See jackson pollock.
Pollux See castor and pollux.
Polly Adler (adler) A “madam” who runs a
brothel. Polly Adler (1900–62) was the notorious
own er of a high- class bordello in New York, where
her customers included gangsters, politicians, and
many other public fi gures. She retired from the
profession in 1944 and recorded the sensational
events of her life in an autobiography. He thought
she was just a very nice woman and did not suspect she
was a budding Polly Adler until he was shown into a
room full of half- naked women.
Pollyanna (poleeana) A tireless optimist. <strong>The</strong>
11- year- old Pollyanna Whittier was introduced to
the world in the novel Pollyanna (1913) by the U.S.
writer Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868–1920) and
was subsequently brought to life in plays and movies.
She is portrayed as irrepressibly optimistic and
always capable of fi nding the bright side in any
depressing situation. Although the book was hugely
successful, the name of its central character has
since come to be used mockingly of anyone who
expresses a per sis tent ly and unrealistically rosy
view of the world. “I am aware that much of what
I am saying makes me sound like some ageing
Pollyanna who just wants to pretend that all is
sweetness and light” (Molly Horne, Life, Love and
Laughter, 1989).
Polonius (pbloneebs) A long- winded, meddlesome
old man. Polonius appears in William Shakespeare’s
tragedy hamlet (c. 1600) as the father of
Laertes and ophelia and adviser to King Claudius.
Hamlet mocks Polonius for his sententious manner
and ultimately kills him while he is hiding in
the room of Queen Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother),
hoping to spy on an interview between mother
and son. His uncle was a garrulous old man who, like
Shakespeare’s Polonius, was only too happy to share his
views of how others should lead their lives.
Polyhymnia See muses.
Polyphemus (pahlifeembs) Archetype of a dimwitted
brute; a Cyclops. In Greek mythology Polyphemus
was a Sicilian Cyclops (see cyclopean)