Iliff-King phrasebook

Example

A: Have you finished the ironing?
B: Yes, the full catastrophe

Origin

From the 1964 film Zorba the Greek

Collector

Naomi – 1970s
Naomi Iliff (King) – owner

Notes

The complete line is “Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man, so I’m married. Wife, children, house – everything. The full catastrophe.”

The line is included in the film’s soundtrack album, so was heard rather often. (It’s not in Nikos Kazantzakis’s 1946 book)