Definition

1. Verb:
   • To be a pen-pusher: To perform routine, often bureaucratic, paperwork in an office. The term carries a connotation of disdain or mockery, implying the work is trivial, unproductive, or overly administrative.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Anh ấy chỉ suốt ngày ngồi cạo giấy ở cơ quan. (He just sits around being a pen-pusher at the office all day.)
  • Công việc cạo giấy ấy chán lắm, chẳng có gì sáng tạo. (That pen-pushing job is so boring; there's nothing creative about it.)
  • Đừng mơ trở thành một kẻ cạo giấy vô dụng. (Don't dream of becoming a useless pen-pusher.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in a critical or sarcastic manner to contrast routine administrative work with more substantive, active, or meaningful labor.
• It can describe the nature of a job or criticize someone for being preoccupied with bureaucratic formalities.

Variants and Related Words

• Kẻ cạo giấy (noun): A pen-pusher, a bureaucrat (used as a derogatory term for someone whose job involves only paperwork).
  • Hắn ta đúng là một kẻ cạo giấy điển hình. (He is a typical pen-pusher.)

Synonyms

• Làm công việc giấy tờ: To do paperwork.
• Làm việc bàn giấy: To do desk work.
• Thư lại (archaic/noun): A clerk, a scribe.

Related Idioms/Phrases

• Công việc cạo giấy: Pen-pushing work.
  • Anh chán ngấy với công việc cạo giấy rồi. (He is utterly fed up with the pen-pushing work.)

1. To be a pen-pusher