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

sick as a parrot
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sick as a parrot Fed up; disappointed; dejected.
<strong>The</strong> origin of the phrase is somewhat obscure.
Suggestions concerning its origin range from the
traditional melancholy Pierrot character to the parrot
disease psittacosis. What ever the case, the phrase
is strongly associated with a famous monty python
comedy sketch featuring a disgruntled customer’s
attempts to return a dead parrot to a pet store.
When he heard what the stock he had sold was now
worth he felt sick as a parrot.
sick man of Eu rope A Eu ro pe an country or
institution that is seen to be in serious decline. <strong>The</strong>
description was fi rst bestowed upon what was
then the ailing Ottoman Empire by Czar Nicholas
I of Rus sia in 1853. It has since been applied to
modern Turkey, among other Eu ro pe an countries.
“<strong>The</strong> strength of the British economy in the mid-
1980s, the signs of growth and rising prosperity,
helped dispel the old image of ‘the sick man of
Eu rope’ ” (Kenneth O. Morgan, <strong>The</strong> People’s Peace,
1990).
Siege Perilous See galahad.
sign of the times Something that is viewed as
symptomatic of present attitudes, fortunes, etc.
<strong>The</strong> phrase comes from Matthew 16:3: “And in
the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the
sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can
discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern
the signs of the times?” <strong>The</strong>re follows a list of signs
of the times that will herald the Second Coming of
Christ, such as the appearance of false prophets,
wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against
nation, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. “. . . a
special fi nancial article in a hostile tone beginning
with the words ‘We have always feared’ and a
guarded, half- column leader, opening with the
phrase: ‘It is a deplorable sign of the times’ what
was, in effect, an austere, general rebuke to the
absurd infatuations of the investing public” ( Joseph
Conrad, Chance, 1913).
Sikes, Bill See nancy.
Silas Marner (silbs mahrner) Archetype of an
unhappy miser. In the novel Silas Marner (1861)
by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans; 1819–80), the
title character is an embittered weaver who hoards
his wealth and never spends anything on creature
comforts. His attitude slowly changes, however,
after a generous- hearted young girl called Eppie
comes to live with him. He was so mean with his
money that he made Silas Marner look like Santa
Claus.
Silenus (sileenbs) Personifi cation of a jovial,
plea sure- loving man. Silenus was identifi ed in
Greek mythology as the foster father and teacher
of Dionysus and considered the god of springs and
running water. He shared many of the same characteristics
as the satyrs and was commonly
depicted as a fat man riding drunkenly on a donkey
or astride a wineskin, wearing a crown of
fl owers. “I will invite my friends to a last feast; a
saturnalia in a city of famine; a banquet of death,
spread by the jovial labors of Silenus and his fauns!”
(Wilkie Collins, Antonina, 1850).
Silicon Valley (silikbn) A place where modern
technological manufacture is concentrated, or
such technologies themselves. <strong>The</strong> name was originally
bestowed upon Santa Clara Valley, south of
San Francisco, California, which became a heartland
of the burgeoning electronics industry in the
1980s. Silicon is a material widely used in the manufacture
of semiconductors. Variants on the theme