| 词汇 | pencil pusher |
| 词源 | pencil pusher; pencil-necked. Both of these are American- isms. The common pencil pusher, usually a contemptuous term for an office worker, is first recorded in 1890. Pencil-necked is of very recent origin, and recorded here because I have heard it several times and can find it listed in no dictionary of slang or standard English. Pencil-necked is a contemptuous reference to relatively genteel men made by the boisterous and bullnecked. I heard it last from a huge professional wrestler with bulging muscles in his neck who declared that only “pencil-necked geeks” don’t like to watch professional wrestling. See lead pencil. |
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