Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Honcho
Vice President-Elect Joe Biden, interviewed by George Stephanopoulos (Dec. 21, 2008):
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And we'll look at everything from college affordability to after-school programs. The things that affect people's daily lives. I will be the guy honchoing that policy....One of the jobs that I've been asked to help honcho is to get a consensus or get an agreement or disagreement, if that's what it is, among the foreign policy team....Well, the way you do that is it's ultimately the national security adviser's job. I'm just the guy that's honchoing this baseline study.I thought honcho could be only a noun, not a verb, but I was wrong. There are two definitions of the word in American Speech 30 (1955) 118:
1. n. A man in charge. (This is a Japanese word translated roughly as 'Chief officer', brought back from Japan by fliers stationed there during the occupation and during the Korean fighting...) 2. v. To direct a detail or operation.
