大人物

Some expressions describe people who are important—or who at least think they are. One such expression is bigwig.

In the 17th century， important men in Europe began to wear 1 hair， called wigs. As years passed， wigs began to get bigger. The size of a man’s wig depended on how important he was. The more important he was—or thought he was—the bigger the wig he wore. Some wigs were so large they covered a man’s shoulders or back.

Today， the expression “bigwig” is used to make fun of a person who feels important. People never tell someone he is a bigwig. They only use the expression behind his back.

“Big wheel” is another way to describe an important person. A big wheel may be the head of a company， a political leader， a famous movie star. They are big wheels because they are powerful. What they do affects many people. Big wheels give the orders. Other people carry them out. As in many machines， a big wheel makes the little wheels turn.

Big wheel began a popular expression after World War II. It probably comes from an expression used for many years by people who fix parts of cars and trucks. They said a person“rolled a big wheel” if he was important and had influence.

The top of something is the highest part. So it is not surprising that top is part of another expression that describes an important person. The expression is top banana. A “top banana” is the leading person in a comedy show. The funniest comedian is called “the top banana.” The next is “second banana.” And so on.

Why a banana？ A comedy act in earlier days often included a part where one of the comedians would hit the others over the head with a soft object. The object was shaped like the yellow fruit： the banana.

Top banana still is used mainly in show business. Yet the expression can also be used to describe the top person in any area.

A “kingpin” is another word for an important person. The expression comes from the game of bowling. The kingpin is the number one pin. If hit correctly with the bowling ball， the kingpin will make all the other nine pins fall. And that is the object of the game.

So， the most important person in a project or business is the kingpin. If the kingpin is removed， the business or project is likely to fail.

Kingpin is often used to describe an important criminal， or the leader of a criminal gang. A newspaper may report， for example， that “police have arrested the suspected kingpin of a car-stealing operation.”

bigwig是要人、名人、權貴、大亨的意思。在17世紀的歐洲，上流社會中的人們通常都戴假發（wig）。一些人戴的是短假發，但國王、貴族、法官和主教戴的是長而飄垂的假發，顯示其地位高貴。在當時，地位越高，假發越大越長。后來，人們就把要人、權貴們稱為bigwig了。不過，現在人們有時用它來調侃那些故意裝出紳士風度擺出官架子的人。

big wheel字面意思是“大輪子”，是在二戰后流行起來的，指“公司的頭頭，政治領袖，有名的博士”。之所以稱他們為“大輪子”，是因為他們動力大，所作所為會影響許多人；他們發號施令，別人就得聽他們的，就像機器里大輪子帶動小輪子一樣。

在top banana中，top的意思是最高，banana是香蕉，最高跟香蕉有什么關系呢？top banana這個說法是來自美國的文藝界。一百年前美國還沒有電影和電視。當時有一種舞臺演出，內容有流行音樂、舞蹈和說笑話。有時候，在一個講笑話的演員講完一個笑話之后，別人就給他一個香蕉。也有說是因為以前馬戲團里的頭牌小丑總是戴個香蕉面具或是頭盔出場。慢慢地，人們把最滑稽的演員稱為 top banana。現在，人們還是把電視上演鬧劇的人叫做 top banana，但是top banana這個說法發展到現在也可以指一個公司的總裁，或者是政府官員，也就是指“頭兒、領導、第一把手”的含義。例如：For many years Doctor Henry Kissinger has been a top banana in American foreign policy. He is no longer in public office but plenty of people still listen to his advice.（多年來，亨利·基辛格博士在美國外交政策方面是最高級的一位官員。現在他已經不再擔任公職，但是許多人仍然愿意聽取他的意見。）

kingpin（首領、頭目）是另一個形容重要人物的詞語。這個詞語來源于保齡球。kingpin是保齡球中最重要的球瓶，如果正確地被保齡球擊中，它能讓其他九個球瓶都落下去。kingpin通常也被用于描述一個重要的罪犯，或者犯罪團伙的頭目。