Today I want to discuss an idiom: "Mover and Shaker."
by Pat Darnell | June 14, 2011 | Bryan TX
"A person who is a mover and shaker is a highly respected, key figure in their particular area with a lot of influence and importance. (LINK)"
For today, I chose to draw various shapes of hoppers that are responsible for moving and shaking substances to and fro, in and out, from here to there. I love hoppers. I used to design hoppers for the deep tunnel boring project in Chicago, way back in '81. These are tank-like funnels, scoops and salt shakers, and water hoppers, and so on. Get it?
So what if I equate hoppers with mover-shaker? It works for me. That is not the end of today's report. It is the idiom itself I want to talk about.
I must here confess there are about 'seven idioms' that really make me cringe. 'Mover and Shaker' is one. In idiomatic manner of speaking, the other six are Scenario; Quintessential; Gimme' the key; Stay with me;
Say you won't -- or say you will -- then go take your goddamn pill; Unique and Professional Web Designs; and, Paradigm.
This list of idiomatic speaking all comes from modern English language, as spoken in cinema, public addresses, introductions by emcees, and during Ponzi Pyramid scheme covered-dish dinner get-together's. Not exactly normal day to day conversations does one find those figures of speech. Most people would not say of themselves "I'm a Mover and Shaker." This idiom is usually bestowed by others. [It's not an exact science.]
I know we have been all over this before; we have dredged this channel every year. It turns out we are in a trend watch for this old idiom as it finds new life: 'Mover-Shaker.' Around the globe today we see several highly influential and important people. But something is terribly amiss.
It seems we have entered an era of cinema inspired venues for some characters to pop up. For example: Qaddafi is a mover-shaker, although of the heinous kind. But so "was" Osama bin Laden. They are both fellas who were hero to many out there; and they moved and shook things on an "epic scale."
Let that "epic scale" idiom float there a moment. Now let it sink in.
"Epic scale" for me refers to Extinction of the Dinosaurs, or, Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, or, the earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown in Japan recently. Those are definitely epic -- if not actually epicenter to the concept of mover-shaker influence and respectable catastrophe, as it were.
Both civilian killers -- Qaddafi, and bin Laden -- rose in power with each having a creepy charisma about them that the 'cameras love.' Odd thing, isn't it? We see televised heinous acts by these killers, but the acts are somewhat similar to something you might have seen in a Tom Cruise movie, Sly Stallone flick, or Nick Cage's cadre of films.
One wonders why it is when they show bin Laden in one of his cryptic underground old films, someone cuts next to film footage of men wearing black rags, even on their faces, carrying machine guns, running through the desert, across wooden trestles. This of course is to show that this docile madman is in truth a mover-shaker of hard training soldiers. I am told by those who know, that, my friend, is 'good television.'
Well I spent too much time now agonizing over the 'mover-shaker' sound byte that will be abused in the coming election year. Barry Obama will certainly be touted one when he weighs in for his second term. You be the judge. Maybe what's good for camera isn't necessarily good for humanity... eh?
That's our report from the Middle, where the Hoppers would fit right in, where women are quintessential, where men are paradigms, and all the children want the keys.
_________Reference
http://www.globe-hoppers.com/globe-hopper-blogs.html
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/mover+and+shaker.html
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ABC News reported on March 29, 2011: "... One week after an international military coalition intervened in Libya, the cost to U.S. taxpayers has reached at least $600 million, according figures provided by the Pentagon.
