10/16/2007: "Tuesday Was "National Boss Day""

What? They need their own day? Why? Perhaps to sell cards and stuff? Anyway, today is the day, and according to some accounts it was started by the daughter of a boss to show her appreciation to him for being a “good” boss. So, if you work for one (or just want to suck up a bit), today is the day.

Anu Garg (wordsmith.org) Asks “How would you describe someone who has risen up and become a manager?

Embossed!”

Garg also suggests using a more “colorful” word for boss, and points out “The word boss has its origins in Dutch (from baas: master, foreman), but there are several homonyms of the word. Is your boss a timid manager, or a bungler, or ...? Depending on how your boss runs the show, you apply one of these alternative meanings:

1. boss : a calf or a cow. That's where Bossy, a familiar name for a cow, comes from. (From English dialect borse/boss/buss: a six-months-old calf)

2. boss: a protuberance or swelling on the body of an animal or plant This is where the word emboss comes from. (From Old French boce)

3. boss-eyed, adjective: cross-eyed or squint-eyed. (origin uncertain)

4. boss, verb: to bungle. (origin uncertain)

Why refer to your supervisor just as a plain old boss? On National Boss Day, why not use a more colorful word..?”

So for all the good bosses (not going to define the term) out there” Happy Boss day; and for all the bad ones: work on it.