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jim_1

Phrase of the day 5/14

jim_1 (Zone 5B)
2 years ago

Clean the Augean stables

It is hard to imagine a worse mess than stables that house 3,000 oxen and have not been cleaned for 30 years. Such were the stables of King Augeus of Greek mythology, and the task of cleaning them was one of the 12 heroic feats performed by Hercules. His solution was to turn a river through them, thus cleaning away the accumulated filth. The phrase has been used for centuries to connote the huge task of clearing away massive corruption of one sort or another.

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