From NOAD:
noun sinecure: a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit: political sinecures for the supporters of ministers. ORIGIN mid 17th century: from Latin sine cura ‘without care’.
And now a juicy bit of political news as it appeared on Facebook today (4/6):
— from the blogger Oregon’s Bay Area
Technically speaking, Kristi Noem hasn’t been fired [as US secretary of homeland security]. Instead, [our overlord Grabpussy] graciously reassigned her to a brand-new position with the kind of name that sounds like it was generated by a patriotic ChatGPT prompt: “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.” This “new security initiative,” which apparently did not exist until about five minutes before the announcement, will presumably involve… something… somewhere in the Western Hemisphere. Details remain vague, which in Washington usually means the job is somewhere between a consolation prize and a political witness relocation and protection program.
— with OBA quoted on FB by Probal Dasgupta, with the comment:
I remember having to manufacture a grandiose name for a position, “student coordination assistant”. The reasons I had to do this were a bit different, but I can recognize a brand new made-up designation when I see one.
— AZ response to PD:
Academics will recognize this staffing strategy: you have someone who’s made a career in academic administration but now needs to be gotten out of the way — but is no longer competent to return to teaching and research. The solution is the Vice President for Special Projects.
March 6, 2026 at 7:42 am |
I have a distant memory of some management higher-up at the place where I worked the longest referring to a colleague who had been relieved of a position of some importance and given a new title and minimal responsibility as now being “Vice President in Charge of Picking Daisies”.
March 6, 2026 at 7:57 am |
Lovely. But of course you can’t say that in public.
March 6, 2026 at 1:04 pm |
I seem to want to say that Noem’s is a sinecure qua non.
March 6, 2026 at 1:11 pm |
Oh say it! You know you can.