What is the origin of the proverb "too many chiefs and not enough Indians"?
I don’t really know the answer to this question, What is the origin of the proverb "too many chiefs and not enough Indians"? , but as your name is Amar Singh, I am guessing that you may possibly be slightly misled by its wording.The first thing to point out, then, is that by “Indians,” the phrase does not mean “people from India.” For many years, centuries even, the indigenous peoples in both South and North America were mistakenly called Indians, a habit that proved hard to break. North America’s “Indians” are now normally referred to as Native Americans, but when I was a child in the 1950s and ‘60s, our television screens were often filled with American programmes collectively known as “Westerns,” but known to most kids as “cowboys and Indians.” These were always about white American cowboys in the pioneering days of the 19th century and the “Wild West,” doing a lot of racing around on horseback, and resisting the savage and uncivilized Indians who were out to stop them doing something or other. There was always a Chief who was tall, solemn and dignified, and full of mystical wisdom when he appeared from his tent and spoke, but it was the mass of Indians on their horses who did all the racing around firing arrows, throwing tomahawks, abducting people and being shot at by the cowboys. There was always quite a high body-count - and this was on at peak viewing time as family entertainment…We don’t get much stuff like that on television these days - some things have definitely improved!Anyway, that is what the saying is based on - the idea that (particularly in a business organisation) there are far too many Chiefs, but not enough Indians - a top-heavy management with too many people giving orders, and not enough people to do the actual work!Thanks for the A2A, and the trip down Memory Lane.