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Before you can/could say Jack Robinson stretch them to fit. In later tellings, if the guest proved too tall, Procrustes would amputate the excess length; nobody ever fitted the bed exactly, because secretly Procrustes had two beds. Procrustes continued his reign of terror until he was captured by Theseus, travelling to Athens along the sacred way, who “fitted” Procrustes to his own bed. Killing Procrustes was Theseus’s last adventure on his journey. In general, when something is Procrustean, different lengths or sizes or properties are fitted to an arbitrary standard. Becky Sharp – Бекки Шарп, персонаж сатирического романа В. Теккерея «Ярмарка тщеславия»; авантюристка, охотящаяся за богатым мужем The anti-heroine of William Makepeace Thackeray’s satirical novel “Vanity Fair” (1847–48). A cynical social climber who uses her charms to fascinate and seduce upperclass men. Her name (“sharp” having connotations of a “sharper” or con-man) and function suggest that Thackeray intended her to be unsympathetic, and yet she became one of his most popular creations. Before you can/could say Jack Robinson – быстрее, чем успеешь сказать «Джек Робинсон»; очень быстро, немедленно, моментально, в два счёта, в мгновение ока; и ахнуть/опомниться не успел; не успел и глазом моргнуть The term Jack Robinson represents a short amount of time. When you do something before you can say Jack Robinson, you do it very quickly. The phrase is of unknown origin, but of course, there are several theories as to how it came to be. The most popular seems to be that it refers to a man who paid such brief visits to friends and neighbors, that it was impossible to say his name before he went back out the door. The term appeared in Grose’s “1785 Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue”. A song entitled “Jack Robinson” appeared in the early 19th century, and somewhat later it became a slang term for penis. 21