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Reader question:

What does sentence – After a bit, all the bigwigs are seated and there are still plenty of seats, so the ushers open it up to the hoi polloi – and particularly “bigwigs” mean?

My comments:

The bigwigs are people of chief importance, i.e. the VIPs, persons of Very Important Pompousness.

Joking aside, the above sentence means that after the VIPs (Very Important Persons, yes) got seated, everyone else, i.e. the masses (hoi polloi is the Greek word for the common people) – are allowed to take a seat.

Wig, of course, is the artificial hair one wears on the head. A big wig is an elaborate such piece. Wearing the big wig is believed to have originated from a French king who was losing his hair prematurely. And perhaps to prevent him from looking singularly odd (and silly), he ordered all “men of quality” to wear one so that all would look the same (and silly). This, from Phrase.org.uk:

The fashion for wigs began with the Bourbon kings of France. Louis XIII (1601 - 1643) went prematurely bald and took to wearing a wig. By the middle of the century, and especially during the reign of Louis XIV, The Sun King, wigs were virtually obligatory for all European nobility and “persons of quality”.

At that time they were known in England as periwigs, which was shortened to wig by 1675.

Wigs were expensive to purchase and to keep in condition and were the preserve of the powerful and wealthy. Ostentation was the order of the day in Bourbon France and over time the wigs became bigger, often to the point of absurdity and requiring of scaffolding.

It isn’t difficult to imagine how the term ‘big-wig’ emerged to refer to the rich and powerful.

Today, lawyers in Hong Kong still wear wigs in court, following traditions of Britain, its former colonial master.

Alright, let’s examine example people described as bigwigs in the media:

1. The above echoes charges made by Jackson’s former close friend and publicist, Stuart Backerman, who left the singer’s employ in 2004 after the Nation first entered Jackson’s domain. “They basically took over Michael’s business and isolated everybody,” Backerman complained. As the first London concerts approached, something was clearly wrong. Jackson had vowed to travel to the UK in order to obtain a house and acclimatize himself at least eight weeks before his 50-show residency, but he kept putting it off. First, he said he was worried about Swine Flu. Then, when that abated, a new series of excuses followed. Few who knew him were buying it. “For some reason, he didn’t want to leave for England,” stated one aide. “The bigwigs were getting nervous that he was going to back out of the London concerts.”

“To be honest, I never thought Michael would set foot on a concert stage ever again,” said another aide, choking back tears on the evening of his death. “This was not only predictable, this was inevitable.”

- Book: Jackson told daughter he was dying, Today.msnbc.msn.com, July 13, 2009.

2. Dear chief executives:

Congratulations. We are writing to you to say how delighted we are that most of you have reported such good profits from investment banking in the second quarter. We are not among those who bash banks because they are doing well. As your regulators, we want you to make healthy profits so you are strong enough to weather any new shocks.

We do, however, notice that many of you have been setting aside large bonus pots for your staff. Some of you have been accruing compensation at a rate of several hundred thousand dollars per employee — and that includes the secretaries. Bonuses planned for the bigwigs are back in the millions.

You don’t need us to tell you that this is causing a political storm. Voters cannot understand how the bankers who helped cause the crisis are going to cash in just months after taxpayers rode to their rescue and when ordinary people are still suffering from rising unemployment.

- A Letter on Bonuses and Tin Ears, Dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com, August 6, 2009.

3. There will no effective foreign policy till the small countries accept that only the bigwigs are counting in world policy.

Just look at Reuters that covers world policy daily. Do you remember any mentioning of the Irish, Dutch, Hungarian prime minister’s remarks on North Korea, Iran or the Middle East?

What they cover is the French, the British and German opinions and announcements. They are the ones who are counting.

It must be admitted openly that bigwigs are representing the EU’s opinion to the world. Like it or not, that is the situation.

- One and Only, Koczianpeter.blogactiv.eu, June 25, 2009.

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