# When did "J.B" come to mean "the boss of the company?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142 "2016-12-19T16:18:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/1 "2016-12-19T16:18:03Z")
See query. The question was raised by my colleague John Gordon in a note to _Finnegans Wake_, and he mentions that at some point in movies of the first half of the 20th century “J.B” was the go-to moniker for “boss.” He also cites Archibald MacLeish’s 1958 play about a modern-day Job entitled _J.B._ The “ready when you are, Mr. DeMille” anecdote (about clueless preparation gone wrong) rings a bell in my ear, because I’ve seen/heard it as “ready when your are, C.B.,” the film director’s first initials (Cecille B.), which perhaps was what he was known by in the the industry. And (speculating wildly here) his dictatorial reputation and name, like Caesar’s becoming “tsar,” stood for “absolute boss” as an inside joke in Hollywood, and was changed in screenplays ever so slightly for deniability. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/2 "2016-12-20T17:15:34Z")
An homage to James Buchanan Brady, perhaps? > **[Diamond Jim Brady](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Jim_Brady)** > > James Buchanan Brady (August 12, 1856 – April 13, 1917), also known as Diamond Jim Brady, was an American businessman, financier and philanthropist of the Gilded Age. > Brady was born in New York City to an Irish immigrant family. He was born “into humble circumstances on the far lower West Side of Manhattan, the son of a saloon owner.” > Brady worked his way up from bellhop and courier. After gaining employment in the New York Central Railroad system, he became the chief assistant to the general m... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/3 "2016-12-20T18:45:26Z")
[Here](http://tinyurl.com/za4o5es)’s what looks like a cite from 1912 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/4 "2016-12-20T21:18:31Z")
From my perspective going back to the 60s and 70s, “J.R.” was the generic initials for a rich guy in fiction. Then came “Dallas” and that took on a particular application. Don’t seem to have anything like it since. I suspect that “J.B.” was a safe way of mocking [J.P. Morgan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan) without the risk of getting sued. With a less likely connection to John D. Rockefeller (who didn’t seem to be known as “J.D.”.) When/why “J.B.” _might_ have been replaced by “J.R.” I can’t even guess. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/5 "2016-12-21T11:38:46Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > See query. The question was raised by my colleague John Gordon in a note to _Finnegans Wake_, and he mentions that at some point in movies of the first half of the 20th century “J.B” was the go-to moniker for “boss.” He also cites Archibald MacLeish’s 1958 play about a modern-day Job entitled _J.B._ JB … representing “Job” (the biblical name). But there are lots and lots of movies… so is it true that J B is used somehow interestingly frequently ? or you just remember these uses ? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/6 "2016-12-21T16:26:49Z")
I have never heard of “JB” ubiquitously used in reference to the boss. Only when the bosses initials were JB. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/7 "2016-12-21T17:50:42Z")
JP Finch, JP Bigley, etc., all from Jay Pierpont Morgan, financier. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/8 "2016-12-21T18:19:59Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > JB … representing “Job” (the biblical name). > > But there are lots and lots of movies… so is it true that J B is used somehow interestingly frequently ? or you just remember these uses ? As I say, John Gordon in his [blog](http://johngordonfinnegan.weebly.com) jogged my memory, in his gloss at _FW_, 497:36 …and there was J. B. Dunlop, the best tyrent of ourish times… and I too have it at the tip of my ear, but can’t name it, from old black and white moviedom. (Which reminds me, Joyce has ALP, the woman-center of his book, queenly promise to be our hero’s “aural eyeness.”) (John Dunlop was the rubber and tire (tyrent) man, so his name figures when condoms and sterility are around; Daniel Dunlop was president of the Dublin Theosophical Society, which has ideas sort-of-congruent to Viconian cycles of history, which are never not around.) I haven’t bugged him with my Hollywood boss idea, nor the other on Diamond Jim; I particularly like the Pearson’s find: it is literary, involves ghosts, a double, a murder in a park, and the guy is identified first off with his hat and stick–all delicious tidbits for Wake-heads. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/9 "2016-12-21T18:23:20Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > JP Finch, JP Bigley, etc., all from Jay Pierpont Morgan, financier. Sorry, just saw this. You think my/our memory is a mishearing of this in many cases? Can you cite the Finch and Bigley references? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/10 "2016-12-21T18:32:17Z")
A previous [discussion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=730581) that doesn’t really produce any useful answers. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/11 "2016-12-21T18:43:19Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > A previous [discussion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=730581) that doesn’t really produce any useful answers. But it does stress that nobody can find a number of examples of anyone using J.B. as a synonym for boss, except in a few specific cases where J.B. is the actual initials of the boss. The use of initials to refer to a particular boss is common, especially in humor, to be sure. No evidence appeared for J.B. as a special case. L.B., you need to read that other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/12 "2016-12-21T19:03:00Z")
Thanks to **Spolier** –and to SD, which leaves nothing unexamined ever–and to Harpo, for the respect on my name. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/13 "2016-12-21T19:09:58Z")
Wait a minute. Stop the presses. Pause to make fun of hyper-glossing associative flights of fancy by over-avid Joyceans. The name of the tire guy, born in Scotland but lived in Ireland, was\* John fucking-Boyd Dunlop.\* End of story. What _is the matter_ with me? Wake-heads can get seriously bent out of shape. What did Talleyrand mean by dying? If only we had half the wit of Maeternich. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/14 "2016-12-21T20:00:38Z")
Aside from Bloomsday cerebrations (or Broomsday celebrations), we have [this Nesbitt’s Orange commercial featuring a boss named J.B.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlo_Kdscw_A) So, no, it probably isn’t a real phenomenon, aside from the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon surrounding it, but it does pop up every so often. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/15 "2016-12-21T20:25:11Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Can you cite the Finch and Bigley references? Both are characters in _How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying_. Groundhog! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-j-b-come-to-mean-the-boss-of-the-company/775142/16 "2016-12-21T21:26:27Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > I have never heard of “JB” ubiquitously used in reference to the boss… Me, either.