Wordwise: With all their pomp and ceremony, pooh-bahs can be pretty funny characters. The original Pooh-Bah was a dramatis personae, an arrogant, foolish bureaucrat introduced in the 1885 Gilbert and Sullivan operetta 'The Mikado' In that show, the character Pooh-Bah, whose title is "Lord High Everything Else," very 'humbly' agrees to accept several important government offices (and their salaries) after a series of officials resign. He'll do anything if the bribe is big enough, and he loves to show off to anyone who might be impressed by his grandeur.