what are the meanings of these phrases?

bubu   Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:11 am GMT
Hello,

What are the meanings of the phrases listed below

1. Dream merchant
2. One-man-industry
3. All shades and variety

Please explain with examples. I did not find them in any dictionary.

Thank you in advance.
Uriel   Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:05 pm GMT
A dream merchant would be a seller of fantasies. Often it is used to describe people who make movies (i.e. ("Hollywood dream merchant George Lucas"). It's sort of a tongue-in-cheek reference; you won't hear it used that often.

A one-man-industry -- well, a one-man anything is something that only involves one man, as in a one-man band (one guy playing a lot of differnt instruments during a single performance). Pretty self-explanatory.

All shades means all varieties, all types. Shades most commonly refers to colors (different shades of blue), but can refer to other subtle differences as well (shades of meaning).