It's a metaphor

no its obviously a divergent reference

THANKS YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE SARCASTIC COMMENT THAT WASN'T NECESSARY
No but seriously there are people who probably didn't know this.

Yeah, but then why would it matter that you just told them? If they didn't know in the first place, most likely they wont have read the book, which means they won't get the reference anyway.

Maybe they would read the book so that they would understand it you knew curiousity dominates in these situations