Who taught: Amber

Greenfield Bridge (source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perfesser/)

Occupy Wall Street (OWS)! Sounds familiar? Ever since this movement started, there have been many similar demonstrations in other cities in the U.S. There is, of course, Occupy Pittsburgh. If you happen to not to know what OWS is, you should check out this wikipedia page.

People who are involved in Occupy Pittsburgh usually stay in downtown where Bank of New York Mellon, one of the major investment banks in the U.S., is located. But they also show up here and there in the city.

A few days ago, I was skimming through my facebook news feed and a new status from Amber caught my eyes. She wrote:

Occupy Pittsburgh…shutting down the Greenfield bridge during rush hour is NOT sticking it to the man!

Until “NOT” part, it was pretty simple and easy but then there was this expression, “stick it to the man.” So, before I get into the details of the expression, I gotta talk more about “the man” part. Do you know who “the man” is? It is whoever has the power or authority. For a country, it is mainly its government. For a company, it is the management team, etc. Now, you get the idea about the man, right? If you stick it, or whatever, to this man, what are you trying to do? You are basically rebelling against the man. It is a little hard to feel. And, also a little vague.

To remember this expression, I think like this: Consider myself being a man in the old days and the man to be the king of the country that I am in. And, I now try to stick a dirty thing, like trash, to the king. How dare I am! What will happen to me is pretty obvious, huh?

That’s how I think to feel and remember this expression. Hope you get to feel this too.

Hey, you know what is better? If you yourself become the man, then you do not need to try to stick it to the man. In this sense, if you are really good at something, your friends would say, “You are the man,” to you. That is for sure a good thing to hear.