Phil Cook wrote:
> I was reading a book which mentioned that bureaucracy is the obvious 
> combination of bureau and -cracy. Now -cracy roughly means 'ruled by' 
> and bureau is a desk; except that got its name from the *woolen cloth* 
> used to cover the desks of important people. So the literal translation 
> of bureaucracy is 'ruled by woolen cloth' or as the book put in 'ruled 
> by green baize'.

Bureau is also 'office' in French, and I always thought that meaning 
came first, as the type of desk referred to in English is like a really 
compact office. Chicken or egg? :-)

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