Alternative forms
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Etymology
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US origin, 1881.[1][2]
pencil pusher (plural pencil pushers)
- (informal, often derogatory) One who does routine office work; someone involved mainly in paperwork.
- Synonyms: office worker, bureaucrat, desk jockey, paper-pusher, pen-pusher
2012, Danielle Steel, The Sins of the Mother, Random House, →ISBN, page 285:“ […] I don't have her creative genius or her version. I'm a numbers man, like my father. A pencil pusher, as Amanda said.” With no balls, he added silently.
2013, Karin Slaughter, Busted, Random House, →ISBN:The internal investigator for the Macon Police Department had the dour, lifeless personality of a career pencil pusher.
Translations
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one who does office work
- Bulgarian: писар (bg) m (pisar)
- Catalan: pixatinters (ca) m (literally “ink pisser”)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 管帳員／管帐员 (guǎnzhàngyuán)
- Czech: kancelářská krysa (cs) f (literally “office rat”)
- Danish: ni-til-femmer c, papirnusser (da) c
- Estonian: paberimäärija
- Finnish: kynänpyörittäjä (literally “pencil circler”), konttorirotta (fi)
- French: gratte-papier (fr) m (literally “paper scratcher”)
- German: Bleistiftstemmer (literally “weightlifter with pencils”), Sesselfurzer (de) (literally “chair farter”), Bürohengst (de) m (literally “office stallion”)
- Hindi: please add this translation if you can
- Japanese: サラリーマン (ja) (literally “salary man”)
- Norwegian: kontorrotte m or f (literally “office rat”)
- Polish: gryzipiórek m (literally “pen chomper”), biurokrata (pl) f, zarękawek (pl) m, urzędas (pl) m
- Romanian: conțopist (ro) m, scriptolog (ro) m
- Russian: канцеля́рская кры́са (ru) f (kanceljárskaja krýsa, literally “office rat”), черни́льная душа́ (ru) f (černílʹnaja dušá, literally “ink soul”)
- Slovak: kancelárska krysa f (literally “office rat”)
- Spanish: chupatintas (es) m (literally “ink sucker”), cagatintas (es) m (literally “ink shitter”), tinterillo (es) m, plumífero (es) m
- Swedish: kontorsråtta (sv) c (literally “office rat”)
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See also
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References
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- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pencil”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Eric Partridge (2005) “pencil-pusher”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volumes 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1462.
