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Jimmy Hung
2021-04-25 09:04
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer American noun phrase informal
Said of one who directly takes charge of numerous duties including vital or small daily tasks within an organization
The director has sacked all clerks, so now he is the chief cook and bottle washer.
She opened the local hotpot restaurant and called herself as the chief cook and bottle washer.
The phrase ''Chief Cook and Bottle Washer" acts as the predicate or the object complement in a sentence.
Chief cook and bottle washer probably alludes not being the only worker not in a restaurant kitchen but to someone who performed many duties on a sailing ship, doing everything from the cooking to washing bottles. For example, from Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, 4 an example from a play by A.B. Lindsley, Love and Friendship, or Yankee Notions (1809): “Why sometimes I acts cook, steward, cabin boy, sailor, mate, and bottle washer..” It may be that the original expression was “chief, cook, and bottle washer” rather than “chief cook” and “bottle washer,” thus referring to someone who was in charge but also performed many trivial tasks. It has been used as an idiom since at least the 1830’s.
Do you see anything wrong?
People are always inclined to flatter or please a rich man by laughing at his joke which may not be a very good one.
Everyone at the table always flatter the boss by praising his humor. A rich man's jokes are always funny.
