Words and Their Stories: Top Brass
07 May 2011
I'm Susan Clark with the Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
The Italians have an old saying, "Il dolce far niente." The words mean it is sweet, or enjoyable, to do nothing.
On weekends and during holidays, many of us enjoy doing nothing. But most of the time we have to work. And, to keep our jobs, we must work hard. Our employer will not like it if we do nothing.
American workers often call their employers bosses. The word boss comes from the Dutch word, baas, meaning master.
Sometimes company bosses are called
the brass
. They also are sometimes called
top brass
, or
brass hats
.
Experts disagree about how these strange expressions started. But, they may have come from Britain. Leaders of the nineteenth century British army wore pieces of metal called oak leaves on their hats. The metal, brass, has a color similar to that of gold. So a leader or commander came to be called a member of
the brass
. Or he might have been called a
brass hat
. Or, even the
top brass
.
By the nineteen forties, the expression had spread beyond military leaders. It also included civilian officials.
A newspaper in the American city of Philadelphia used the term in nineteen forty-nine. It called the most important police officials,
top brass
.
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