[Ads-l] sherpa

[Laurence Horn]

Well, it does have a history in this use, or something close to it.  OED, s.v. _sherpa_:

2. transf. and fig. A mountain guide or porter; a guide; an official who makes the preparations for a summit conference.

1959   M. Pugh Chancer 137   What was the idea of trying that cliff? Did you fancy your chance as a sherpa?
1976   P. Cave High Flying Birds iii. 35   ‘O.K.,’ I said. ‘Lead the way, sherpa.’
1980   Times 23 June 1/2   The seven leaders inevitably based much of their comment on the draft communique drawn up for publication after the meeting by the seven government officials—known as the ‘sherpas’—who have been charged with preparing this summit.

That last one suggests a vector for the metaphorical extension, via one who prepares the way for a summit (conference) to one who guides a client for stressful vetting for a (mountain?)top position (it is called the “Supreme” Court, after all), to a guide over difficult terrain more generally.


LH

> On Feb 12, 2017, at 8:58 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> CNN: "She is Judge Gorsuch's confirmation sherpa."
> 
> She "guides him through the confirmation process."
> 
> They may think it's related to "shepherd."
> 
> (I must have been forty before I discovered that "Sherpa" was a tribal, not
> an occupational, designation. But that was then.)
> 
> JL
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org