Show how it started by JEAN NEWTON THE BIG WIG in common speech today wo come across the slang expression berf wig to describe some one in authority person of prominence who wields influence and power I 1 be expression Is a of the days when fashion decreed the wig with whose long curls we are familiar through old pictures and the cos used in revival plays queue wig with hair powder Is still worn on alie english bench the of wags was the early seventeenth century when no gentleman of fashion could appear without one king courtiers and ecclesiastics had their heads clipped in order to display false curls and ringlets ot huge proportions and when it Is known that as much as fifteen dollars an ounce was paid in angland for fine qualities of hair and that the great manes of high dignitaries were made at a cost of hundreds of dollars the modern adaptation of the term big wig Is easily comprehensible 1 copyright u |