Where did the phrase,"the smiling assassin",refers to accountants, come from?
Ah, the smiling assassin, he can prove anything with figures. It refers to an accountant or such like, is it a quote or what
Words & Wordplay - 3 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
I have heard the term used for many different professions & people, but it all means the same thing. They are smiling while they are 'killing you', be it with figures, words or otherwise
Answer 2 :
I always thought it was lawyers and politicians
Answer 3 :
I've never heard that particular quote before, but it's meaning is rather obvious. An assassin is one who kills people. If an accountant has a grudge and wants to make someone he works for look really bad, he can "cook the books" so that they really look as though his boss has been stealing money from the company, even though it isn't true. In this way, he might kill his bosses chances of remaining in his job, or the boss may possibly even go to jail, even though he is innocent. The accountant sits there "smiling" to himself because he got revenge on his boss by "assassinating" his bosses' good, honest reputation. Thus, he has become a "character assassin" who performed a "character assassination."
Read more other entries :
