*Czars

Thomas Brackett Reed, (October 18, 1839 ? December 7, 1902), occasionally ridiculed as Czar Reed, was a U.S. Representative from Maine, and Speaker of the House from 1889?1891 and from 1895?1899. He was a powerful leader of the Republican party but was unable to stop the Spanish-American War. [from wikipaedia]

I'm pretty sure Russia used the term Czar awhile ago, like in the 1800s.

It is a pity Hitler ruined "Kaiser" for all time. Maybe we could slip a Caesar in and people wouldn't notice if we used the proper Latin pronunciation.

From September 1, 1926, New York Times:
CITY MILK DEALERS TO APPOINT A'CZAR'

Determined to "clean house" and obtain the favorable opinion of the public, the Milk Chamber of Commerce, an organization of Independent milk dealers in New York, has decided to appoint a supreme arbiter of the industry who will work on lines similar to those of Will Hays in the motion-picture field.

Thomas Brackett Reed, (October 18, 1839 – December 7, 1902), occasionally ridiculed as Czar Reed, was a U.S. Representative from Maine, and Speaker of the House from 1889–1891 and from 1895–1899. He was a powerful leader of the Republican party but was unable to stop the Spanish-American War. [from wikipaedia]

spork,

There was a "Russia" before the 1800s? Wow, who knew?

It is interesting that the term Czar was used pejoratively until shortly after the fall of the Czar(Tsar). I guess that makes sense, sort of.

Add to my comments in #3, above:

Food Czar
The Washington Post, Dec 8, 1942, p.12

Executive orders creating new czars to control various aspects of our wartime economy have come so thick and fast in the last week that it is difficult for the public to remember all of them. In rapid succession we have acquired a petroleum czar, a manpower czar, and a food czar. These, of course, were added to a long list of other super-executives directing war production, economic stabilization, price fixing, transportation, and so forth. So far as we can determine, the galaxy of czars is now complete, unless the President should decide to appoint a czar over the czars.

Can we also dump the whole "-gate" thing for scandals?

That is getting so old and ever more stupid.

Next: let's stop with "Homeland". Never heard it used in connection with US until Bush-Cheney. Creeps me out.

Am I the only person old enough to remember this? Sigh...

During the first oil crisis back in 1973-74, Nixon appointed Bill Simon head of the Federal Energy Office (this was before we had a Department of Energy). Simon was christened "the energy czar" and was given pretty sweeping authority. He did things like put price controls on oil and instituted even/odd day gasoline rationing. He also took a liking to the term and often referred to himself as a "czar" and the term took hold in the popular consciousness, including, as I remember, regular appearances in Doonesbury.

So while the term may have been used prior to that, it was Simon who set the pattern. This became even more ingrained when Jimmy Carter appointed his own "energy czar" (James Schlesinger) a few years later.

Here are a couple references on the subject

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jun/04/local/me-37328

http://www.reason.com/news/show/130026.html

According to etymonline.com: "The transferred sense of "person with dictatorial powers" is first recorded 1866, Amer.Eng., initially in ref. to President Andrew Johnson."

"Homeland" evokes the Third Reich, which might explain why it's creepy. Funny how much like the 3d Reich the Bush administration has been.

So we won't get a Homeland Czar? I know it sounds creepy, but I'll bet his/her personal guard detachment would get to wear really cool uniforms.

If not a Czar, how about Czarina and all her little Czardines?

I think I read somewhere that "czar" is from Polish. "Tsar" is Russian.

The OED traces this particular usage back to 1933 in Samuel Walker's Nightclub Era: "There are several versions of why Mulrooney quit the job to become the state beer 'Czar'."

A related usage in the sense of a powerful political person who is not in fact king of all the Russias is traced to 1866 in Sperber and Trittusch's American Political Terms: "There wuz an immense crowd, but the Czar uv all the Amerikas didn't get orf his speech here."

Victoria Cochrane writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.