What a perfect description! One thing I love about Free Republic is that I learn so much here. Thank you for posting a term I was unfamiliar with until today! :)
Procrustean bed- n.- An arbitrary standard to which exact conformity is forced. -The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
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| Procrustes and his "magical" bed. |
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| Procrustes (proh-KRUS-teez). A host who adjusted his guests to their bed. Procrustes, whose name means "he who stretches", was arguably the most interesting of Theseus's challenges on the way to becoming a hero. He kept a house by the side of the road where he offered hospitality to passing strangers, who were invited in for a pleasant meal and a night's rest in his very special bed. Procrustes described it as having the unique property that its length exactly matched whomsoever lay down upon it. What Procrustes didn't volunteer was the method by which this "one-size-fits-all" was achieved, namely as soon as the guest lay down Procrustes went to work upon him, stretching him on the rack if he was too short for the bed and chopping off his legs if he was too long. Theseus turned the tables on Procrustes, fatally adjusting him to fit his own bed. |