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Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Pygmalion

also the Pygmalion word, a British euphemistic substitute for bloody in mid-20c. from its notorious use in Bernard Shaw's play of the same name (1914: "Walk? Not bloody likely!"). The Greek legend of the sculptor/goldsmith and the beautiful statue he made and wished to life, is centered on Cyprus and his name might ultimately be Phoenician.

Wiktionary
pygmalion

a. bloody (only in 'not pygmalion likely'), from the sensational, and then scandalous, line "not bloody likely" in George Bernard Shaw's play ''Pygmalion''. n. One who acts as the legendary Greek sculptor Pygmalion (who was granted the wish of having life given to a sculpture of his which he loved a great deal), as in George Bernard Shaw's ''Pygmalion'' in which he sometimes refers to his main character (Henry Higgins) as Pygmalion Higgins.

Wikipedia
Pygmalion

Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to:

Pygmalion (play)

Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw, named after a Greek mythological character. It was first presented on stage to the public in 1913.

Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable speech. The play is a sharp lampoon of the rigid British class system of the day and a commentary on women's independence.

In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life. The general idea of that myth was a popular subject for Victorian era English playwrights, including one of Shaw's influences, W. S. Gilbert, who wrote a successful play based on the story called Pygmalion and Galatea first presented in 1871. Shaw would also have been familiar with the burlesque version, Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed. Shaw's play has been adapted numerous times, most notably as the musical My Fair Lady and the film of that name.

Shaw mentioned that the character of Professor Henry Higgins was inspired by several British professors of phonetics: Alexander Melville Bell, Alexander J. Ellis, Tito Pagliardini, but above all, the cantankerous Henry Sweet.

Pygmalion (mythology)

Pygmalion (; , gen.: Πυγμαλίωνος) is a legendary figure of Cyprus. Though Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton, he is most familiar from Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses, in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved.

Pygmalion (1938 film)

Pygmalion is a 1938 British film based on the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title, and adapted by him for the screen. It stars Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller.

The film was a financial and critical success, and won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and three more nominations. The screenplay was later adapted into the 1956 theatrical musical My Fair Lady, which in turn led to the 1964 film of the same name.

Pygmalion (album)

Pygmalion is the third studio album by English rock band Slowdive, released on 6 February 1995 by record label Creation. It was the final album before Slowdive disbanded in 1995.

Pygmalion (Rousseau)

Pygmalion is the most influential dramatic work by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, other than his opera Le devin du village. Though now rarely performed, it was one of the first ever melodramas (that is, a play consisting of pantomime gestures and the spoken word, both with a musical accompaniment). It is formed of spoken monodrama with instrumental musical interludes and thus can be credited with spreading a new theatrical genre, especially in German-speaking areas of Europe. He wrote it in 1762, with music by Horace Coignet. It was first performed at the Hôtel de Ville, Lyon in 1770. The work is considered a turning point for its author, who also wrote The Social Contract that same year.

Pygmalion (1937 film)

' Pygmalion ' is a 1937 Dutch film, based on the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title, directed by Ludwig Berger.

Pygmalion (name)

Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician name Pu'mayyaton. Hesychios of Alexandria transcribed it as Pygmaion.

In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with his statue.

Pygmalion (1983 film)

Pygmalion is a critically acclaimed 1983 film made-for- Showtime starring and produced by Margot Kidder as Eliza Doolittle and Peter O'Toole as Professor Henry Higgins.

Pygmalion (1935 film)

Pygmalion is a 1935 German film based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion.

Pygmalion (opera)

Pygmalion is a monodrama in one act by composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. The opera's first performance was at the Ekhof Theater, the court theatre in Gotha, on September 20, 1779. Pygmalion was the fourth of the five theatrical collaborations of Benda and Gotter. Gotter based his text on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1762 play Pygmalion. Benda's melodrama is unusual as it has three characters but only one spoken role. Two of the parts are silently acted on stage. __NOTOC__

Usage examples of "pygmalion".

Coyote, that once we use Fiddleback to vanquish Pygmalion, we will have Fiddleback to contend with again.

El-Leichter had once claimed as his own, that the lifetime 1 had spent in GBI, being forged into a weapon for Fiddleback to use against Pygmalion, was a past lifetime.

Fiddleback correctly guessed that he could train me in things the way he had trained Pygmalion, butsincemy identity came as a reflection of Fiddleback, 1 would never rebel.

If not for the intervention of Pygmalion, Fiddleback might have destroyed me.

From the floorplan, we determined two likely spots for Pygmalion to maintain an office.

For that reason we have isolated Mickey from the wolfmen Pygmalion first had him attack.

George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion asserts the idea that a flower girl can become a lady, in soul as well as appearance, if only she is trained and educated properly.

Pygmalion gestured one last time, liquefying the fourth scout, then raised his finger up and blew on it before tucking it away in an imaginary holster.

I decided that Gwen’s attempt to play Pygmalion to this unlikely Galatea was succeeding but that Bill would have to learn Loonie manners, or he might lose some teeth.

As Pygmalion had rebelled against his master, so, someday, Ryuhito would become Pygmalion's rival, and in his choice of appellation for the diminutive Dark Lord, he let the seeds of his rebellion germinate.

As the Empress of Diamonds brought me through, I sensed the life ebbing from the countless warriors Pygmalion had created and from the world that had hatched them.