“The Wall Street Journal”:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125695170918620201.html?mod=googlenews_wsj on the new EU presidency:
bq. Meantime, three right-of-center leaders, from Denmark, Finland and Ireland, issued a statement saying the president should be a “chairman not a chief” — a description that appears to fit other prospective candidates better than Mr. Blair.
I’m moderately certain that the phrase in question has its origins in Brian Farrell’s[1] famous (at least among Irish political scientists) “book”:http://openlibrary.org/b/OL5082780M/Chairman_or_Chief on the role of the Irish Taoiseach. And my strong impression is that it appears to be circulating among EU decision makers. Political scientists are not usually noted for their adroitness in turning phrases that gain general circulation – what other examples are there? NB that I am less interested here in social scientific concepts such as ‘social capital’ that gain currency while remaining linked to their social scientific origins, and more interested in phrases (such as Veblen’s ‘conspicuous consumption’) that become detached from the more general theories that they sprang from.
1. No relation of mine.