[ti:Top Brass]
[ar:Susan Clark]
[al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:10.16]I'm Susan Clark
[00:12.11]with the Special English program
[00:14.05]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:16.86]The Italians have an old saying,
[00:19.85]"Il dolce far niente."
[00:22.30]The words mean it is sweet,
[00:24.87]or enjoyable, to do nothing.
[00:28.36]On weekends and during holidays,
[00:31.26]many of us enjoy doing nothing.
[00:34.16]But most of the time
[00:36.46]we have to work.
[00:38.06]And, to keep our jobs,
[00:40.10]we must work hard.
[00:42.21]Our employer will not like it
[00:45.49]if we do nothing.
[00:46.85]American workers often
[00:50.47]call their employers bosses.
[00:53.21]The word boss comes
[00:56.35]from the Dutch word, baas,
[00:58.53]meaning master.
[01:00.12]Sometimes company bosses
[01:03.32]are called the brass.
[01:05.03]They also are sometimes
[01:07.83]called top brass, or brass hats.
[01:11.52]Experts disagree
[01:13.81]about how these
[01:14.96]strange expressions started.
[01:16.71]But, they may
[01:18.15]have come from Britain.
[01:19.64]Leaders of the nineteenth century
[01:22.49]British army wore pieces of metal
[01:25.64]called oak leaves on their hats.
[01:28.34]The metal, brass, has a color
[01:31.03]similar to that of gold.
[01:33.02]So a leader or commander
[01:35.48]came to be called
[01:36.79]a member of the brass.
[01:38.68]Or he might have been called
[01:40.98]a brass hat.
[01:42.37]Or, even the top brass.
[01:44.99]By the nineteen forties,
[01:48.33]the expression had spread
[01:49.58]beyond military leaders.
[01:51.73]It also included
[01:53.20]civilian officials.
[01:55.02]A newspaper in the American city
[01:58.28]of Philadelphia used the term
[02:00.60]in nineteen forty-nine.
[02:02.54]It called the most important
[02:05.09]police officials, top brass.
[02:07.62]Other expressions that mean boss
[02:12.02]or employer have nothing to do
[02:14.78]with brass or hats.
[02:16.48]One of these is big cheese.
[02:19.90]A cheese is a solid food
[02:22.92]made from milk.
[02:24.49]The expression probably
[02:26.73]started in America
[02:28.23]in the late nineteenth century.
[02:30.59]Some experts believe it comes from
[02:33.46]a word in the Uersian
[02:34.86]or urdu languages -- chiz.
[02:38.18]The meaning is a thing.
[02:40.54]So the meaning of big cheese
[02:43.49]may be a big thing.
[02:46.02]Other experts say the word cheese
[02:49.64]in this expression was really
[02:52.04]an incorrect way of saying chief.
[02:54.99]The word chief means leader.
[02:58.09]So the expression
[02:59.93]may mean big leader.
[03:01.88]An employer usually does not
[03:05.64]object to being called boss.
[03:07.99]But most workers would not
[03:10.89]call their employers big cheeses,
[03:13.26]top brass or brass hats
[03:16.67]to their faces.
[03:17.86]These words are not really insulting.
[03:21.61]But neither do they show great respect.
[03:24.90]Employers also have expressions
[03:28.88]to describe their workers.
[03:30.56]One of them that describes
[03:33.17]a good worker is that he
[03:35.77]or she works like a Trojan.
[03:39.07]This expression probably
[03:42.12]comes from the ancient writings
[03:44.31]of the Greek poet Homer.
[03:46.31]He wrote about the Trojans
[03:48.56]who lived in the city of Troy.
[03:51.37]He said Trojans worked
[03:53.57]very hard to protect their city.
[03:55.77]Now, the expression is  often
[03:58.35]used to describe an employee
[04:00.88]who works hard for a company.
[04:03.07]A loyal, hard-working employee
[04:06.32]is said to work like a Trojan.
[04:09.40]So be happy if your company's
[04:12.83]brass hats say you work like a Trojan.
[04:16.59]They may consider you valuable
[04:19.27]enough to increase your pay.
[04:21.67](MUSIC)
[04:32.52]This Special English program,
[04:35.42]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES,
[04:37.17]was written by Jeri Watson.
[04:39.78]I'm Susan Clark.