pen pusher
Clerical office worker
Pen pusher is a mildly disparaging term for someone with a desk job involving routine paperwork—a clerk or bureaucrat.
The image is of someone who pushes a pen across forms all day rather than doing physical or creative work.
Also spelled pen-pusher.
The American equivalent is pencil pusher: He traded fieldwork for life as a pen pusher.
- desk jockeySedentary office worker
- cubicle farmDense partitioned office layout
- secretaryAdministrative office aide
- bureaucratGovernment administrative official
- paperworkAdministrative written tasks
paper trail · functionary · bean counter · clerk · typist · office worker · white collar · scribe · bookkeeper · rubber stamp · rubber stamping · registrar · documentation · correspondence · recorder · forms · reports · memos
pen pushermanual laborer
Worker using physical effort
blue-collar worker · tradesman · craftsman · laborer · construction worker
pen pusherman of action
One who acts, not deliberates
doer · go-getter · mover and shaker · decision-maker · entrepreneur
pen pusherdecision-maker
One with choosing power
leader · executive · mover and shaker · entrepreneur · visionary
pen, push, pusher, pens, penned, penning, pushes, pushed, pushing