The cleanest piece of metis in the book. Odysseus gives Polyphemus the wine, lets him get drunk, lets him ask for the stranger’s name. Nobody, he says. My name is Nobody. When the stake goes into the eye and Polyphemus screams, the other Cyclopes come running to the boulder door and ask who is hurting him. Nobody is killing me. Nobody is killing me by his trickery. The brothers shrug and walk back to their flocks. The trick is a pun used as a weapon, language doing what swords couldn’t. It also sets up the disaster on the next beach — Odysseus loves the trick so much he can’t resist trading the false name for his real one when he thinks he’s safely out of range. He isn’t.
The "Nobody" Trick
He told the Cyclops his name was Nobody. So when Polyphemus screamed for help, the other Cyclopes heard *Nobody is killing me* and went home.