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Just a few more...

Posted by ESC on February 25, 2000

In Reply to: Joke Top Titles posted by Barry on February 21, 2000

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: : :
: : : : : : : : : I am compliling a list of titles that the guy at the top would use (jokingly)
: : : : : : : : : Heres what I got so far, if any of you more-smarter-than-I type people could add to the list or correct my spelling even, that would be great!

: : : : : : : : : Head Honcho
: : : : : : : : : Big Cheese
: : : : : : : : : Top Dog
: : : : : : : : : Guy Upstairs
: : : : : : : : : All Around Great Guy
: : : : : : : : : Biggest and Brightest
: : : : : : : : : Maximus Greatus
: : : : : : : : : Top Banana
: : : : : : : : : Omniscient One
: : : : : : : : : Big Kahuna
: : : : : : : : : Big Fish in a Little Pond
: : : : : : : : : El Captitian

: : : : : : : : :
: : : : : : : : : Thank you all you great peoples!

: : : : : : : : I like the term "bull goose loony" from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey, a novel about a mental hospital. Then there's (from This Dog'll Really Hunt: An Entertaining Texas Dictionary by Wallace O. Chariton), "lead steer" and "big biscuit in the pan." And there's "alpha wolf" and "lead dog." And, from the cartoon "Rocky and Bullwinkle," "Fearless Leader."

: : : : : : : 'He/She who must be obeyed', 'Top Man', 'Leader of the Pack', 'The Boss', 'guv'(beloved of UK sit com writers), 'The dogs b*******', 'The King of the Dunghill' - the CEO of a small company with pretentions to be a multinational.

: : : : : : Major domo, Kingpin, 800 pound gorilla.

: : : : : And a Stephen King phrase, King T*rd of S*#t Mountain.

: : : : About 20 years ago, Archbishop Alter of Cincinnati was at St. Peter's in Rome, and was going to say mass at a side altar. He was proceeding with great pomp to his destination when a Swiss Guard, singularly unimpressed, cocked an eyebrow and remarked "Procezione de uno." (I'm not sure of the spelling, but the sense is clear enough. A procession of one.)

: : Leave us not forget a wonderful movie/military reference, "Top Gun" and I believe that "El Capitan" is spelled as indicated. Good stuff!

: 'King of the hill', 'Lord of all he surveys', 'Chief', 'King Rat' to name but three.

Big bug, 1827; big dog, big gun, big fish, big wig, early 1880s; big man, 1855, the student term "big man on campus," BMOC, appeared in the 1920s; big toad in the puddle, 1877; big cheese, 1890; big noise, 1902; big shot, 1910; biggie, 1931; big chief, 1934; big wheel, 1941; Mr. Big, early 1950s, originally as a leader of the underworld; big deal, 1940s; and, last but not least, high muck-a-muck or high muckety muck from the Chinook language, biu or biou meaning plenty, a lot, and muckamuck meaning food and drink. (From Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner.)

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