dollar-a-year men

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jul 11, 2005, at 6:25 AM, John Baker wrote:

>         I believe that "dollar-a-year men" refers to the former
> practice
> of wealthy individuals serving in government posts for the nominal
> annual salary of $1.
>
> Arnold M. Zwicky:
>
> no, i'm not offering this as a novel expression, or tryting to
> antedate
> it.  just an observation that it might not be understood by today's
> readers.  here's George Packer in The New Yorker, 7/4/05, p. 52:...

sorry.  i should have added that i was not asking for a definition;
i'm old enough to remember dollar-a-year men (by the way, weren't
there *any* dollar-a-year women?).  what i was wondering about was
what those of a less advanced age might make of the expression.

arnold