pooh-bahs
Self-important bureaucrats
Pooh-bahs are self-important officials, especially those holding multiple positions or wielding outsized influence.
The term carries a mocking tone, suggesting pomposity or bureaucratic pretension: The corporate pooh-bahs gathered for their annual retreat.
From the character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan's *The Mikado*, who held numerous grandiose titles simultaneously.
Also spelled pooh-bah.
Bumps or bigwigs
- tycoonsPowerful business leaders
- magnatesWealthy, powerful industrialists
- kingpinsDominant figures in organizations
- oligarchsWealthy few who govern
bigwigs · grandees · mandarins · brass · overlords · potentates · nabobs · big shots
Exaggerating one's own significance
- haughtyDisdainfully proud
- arrogantExcessively high self-regard
- overbearingArrogantly dominating in manner
- condescendingSuperior and dismissive manner
imperious · snobbish · supercilious · grandiose · pontifical · ostentatious · vainglorious · highfalutin
Victorian operetta collaborators
- MikadoJapanese imperial title
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- lampoonHarsh public mockery
- parodySatirical imitation
mockery · satire · burlesque · farce · spoof · send-up · ridicule · pomposity
Administrative government employees
- administratorsPeople overseeing operations
- functionariesPeople holding formal positions
- executivesSenior corporate officers
- directorsThose who lead organizations
managers · commissioners · secretaries · coordinators · supervisors · officers · comptrollers · chancellors
moguls
Bumps or bigwigs
- tycoonsPowerful business leaders
- magnatesWealthy, powerful industrialists
- kingpinsDominant figures in organizations
oligarchs · bigwigs · grandees · mandarins · brass · overlords · potentates · nabobs · big shots · big cheeses
self-important
Exaggerating one's own significance
- haughtyDisdainfully proud
- arrogantExcessively high self-regard
- overbearingArrogantly dominating in manner
condescending · imperious · snobbish · supercilious · grandiose · pontifical · ostentatious · vainglorious · highfalutin · puffed-up
Gilbert and Sullivan
Victorian operetta collaborators
- MikadoJapanese imperial title
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- lampoonHarsh public mockery
parody · mockery · satire · burlesque · farce · spoof · send-up · ridicule · pomposity · buffoonery
bureaucrats
Administrative government employees
- administratorsPeople overseeing operations
- functionariesPeople holding formal positions
- executivesSenior corporate officers
directors · managers · commissioners · secretaries · coordinators · supervisors · officers · comptrollers · chancellors · stewards
pooh-bahspeons
Menial laborers with little status
underlings · subordinates · rank and file · grunts · nobodies
pooh-bahsregular Joes
Ordinary, unremarkable people
plain folks · ordinary people · salt of the earth · no-names · wallflowers
pooh-bahsoutsiders
Those not belonging
commoners · have-nots · disenfranchised · ordinary citizens · the masses