26 Jan

big cheese

Who taught: Drew, Jon, Emily and Rachel

The big cheese (source : http://www.ohgeez.com/)

Last Saturday, Jessy and I went to see Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra’s concert. My friend Liz is the assistant concertmaster of the orchestra. It was awesome. We were able to see some young musicians. They are all teenagers but performed like professionals. We were able to see their passion in music. One of the most beautiful things in the world is, in my opinion, seeing someone doing something with passion and happiness. Having said that, I would love to quote part of the President Barack Obama’s speech yesterday at the State of the Union.

One mother of two, a woman named Kathy Proctor, had worked in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old. And she told me she’s earning her degree in biotechnology now, at 55 years old, not just because the furniture jobs are gone, but because she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too. As Kathy said, “I hope it tells them to never give up.”

Very inspiring, isn’t it? At 55 years old, she decided to learn a new thing to pursue her dream. Hope I keep my passion at 55 or even older. Oh… and I also hope you do too.

Going back to the story being with my friends… Before the concert, we all went an Italian restaurant to have dinner together. During dinner, we talked about Emily’s story about her not properly being covered by health insurance. She has been waiting for a while to be covered by the company health insurance but did not happen yet. Hearing this, Drew said, “Who is the big cheese at your work? You should talk about it.” Well, based on the context, I was able to understand what they were talking about but the expression itself would not give any hint to me. The meaning of the expression is “most influential or important person in a group.”

I was so curious about the origin of the expression that I had to look it up. I found a few different theories but there is one very believable or probable. The Persian or Hindi word “chiz” means a thing. So, big cheese or big chiz is what? That’s right. It is a “big thing.” Now, are you a big cheese at your work? 🙂

I have a question. Can I say the big cheese in America is Barack Obama?

5 thoughts on “big cheese

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention big cheese | Learning English from Friends (LEfF) -- Topsy.com

  2. That part in Barack Obama’s speech encourages me not to give up my goals and dreams just because I’m thinking I’m too old to start them.

    These days, the average life expectancy is over 80, so we have to prepare for another 20 or more years after retirement which is not so far away from this time.

    Going forward I will set some disciplines to manage myself and time so that I can get closer to what I’m targeting now.

    By reading this blog, I’m not only practicing English but getting lots of inspirations as well.

    Thanks.

    • Thank you so much, Byung! I am glad you are killing two birds with one stone here! I am also very happy to have you, helping me to continue my work. By the way, I might visit the west coast soon.

      • Good to hear that you are coming to West Coast Area, nice warm weather here comparing to your location. Is it for your vacation or biz trip?
        Have you set up your itinerary yet?
        If you can stop by San Jose area, I will be greeting you and your family with nice meal and some drinks.

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