How do use the term "Gordian Knot" in refering to something?

Question

How do use the term "Gordian Knot" in refering to something?

Answer 1

Actually it took a sword, not balls - whacking one's balls against it ...

Anyway, I've never heard it uses in terms of the solving of it by hacking it in half, which of course is not solving it at all, it's destroying it - I've always heard a Gordian knot as a difficult intransigient problem, but withOUT any reference to solving it through violence or any other way.

You might hear, ah this IRS thing is a Gordian knot - we'll be dicking with this for twenty years and they'll never get it right

Answer 2

A complex knot tied by a Greek king. According to legend, whoever loosed it would rule all Asia. Alexander the Great, according to some accounts, undid the Gordian knot by cutting through it with his sword.

By extension, to “cut the Gordian knot” is to solve quickly any very complex problem or to get to the heart of a problem.

"We need to cut the Gordian knot in this contract and see what the real issues are"

Answer 3

Everyone got most of it.  A Gordian knot is a problem that is solved with a bold move.  Instead of using his head and thinking it through, Alexander the Great cut through the knot with his sword.  It didn't take finesse or cunning, it took balls.

Answer 4

the Gordian knot was a problem. a knot no one could undo, so the hero took a sword and sliced straight through it. It refers to solving a problem by using your head and not ur strength and also to sometimes breaking the rules for the greater good

Answer 5

A seemingly unsolvable problem that defies one's best efforts to answer.

"Coming up with a way to balance the budget and pay for all these new services is a veritable Gordian Knot."