Augean stable

So here we have today's Merriam Webster Word of the Day:

Augean stable \aw-JEE-un-STAY-bul\ noun
: a condition or place marked by great accumulation of filth or corruption

Example sentence:
The presidency of Ulysses S. Grant was marred by his refusal to clean out the Augean stables of his own administration.

Did you know?
"Augean stable" most often appears in the phrase "clean the Augean stable," which usually means "clear away corruption" or "perform a large and unpleasant task that has long called for attention." Augeas, the mythical king of Elis, kept great stables that held 3,000 oxen and had not been cleaned for thirty years -- until Hercules was assigned the job. Hercules accomplished this task by causing two rivers to run through the stables. The word "Augean" is sometimes used by itself, too -- it has come to mean "extremely difficult and usually distasteful." We can refer to "Augean tasks," "Augean labor," or even "Augean clutter."


Fascinating, right? And you're probably figuring that I'm going to talk about what a mess my house is, or some horror story about parenting. Nope.

Last night, I lay in bed reading the "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan (the 4th book in the Lightning Thief series that I have been thoroughly enjoying - which I suppose is obvious since I've continued on to the fourth book) and the last chapter I read actually had Augean stables in them! It told the tale of Hercules cleaning the stables.

And this was after we had started cleaning the Augean stables of our giant mounds of donations.

Thanks to this, I have drawn parallels between the two tasks. I love when that happens! I'm such a geek!