English
Etymology
US origin, 1881.[ 1] [ 2]
Noun
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
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 , 管帐员 ( guǎnzhàngyuán )
Czech: kancelářská krysa (cs) f ( literally “ office rat ” )
Danish: ni-til-femmer c
Estonian: paberimäärija
Finnish: kynänpyörittäjä ( literally “ pencil circler ” ) , konttorirotta
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 ” )
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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
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 ” )
See also
References
^ 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 , volume 2 (J–Z) , London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge , →ISBN , page 1462 .