# Archaic (Derogatory?) Names For Professions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2009, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327 "2009-06-29T08:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/21 "2009-06-30T05:01:38Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > “Code monkey” – A derogatory term for an unskilled programmer who isn’t competent to design software, merely to implement the designs of others. A code monkey only knows one language, one development environment, and one OS, and would be deeply traumatized by any change. Sadly, this isn’t old-fashioned in any way. Huh. I’ve always thought of it as ‘someone very good at writing and tinkering with code’. After all, monkeys are quite clever and dextrous. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/22 "2009-06-30T05:07:33Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > hm dog robber for someone in the military good at getting supplies [in or out of system] I have always heard that a dog robber is a senior officer’s adjutant. Chancre mechanic for doctor. Wood butcher is a carpenter. Inside the industry the term flat-rater is used for a bad mechanic that cuts corners. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/23 "2009-06-30T06:18:20Z")
Snake oil salesman Handmaiden (or handmaid) Whore ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/24 "2009-06-30T06:34:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Many actresses want to be called actors now. Same for Policemen, Firemen, Postmen, etc. Many policemen, firemen and postmen want to be called actors? Seriously, though, I’m not sure what you were originally trying to say here but I want to know. Do you mean that policewomen want to be called police officers, firewomen firefighters, and postwomen postal workers? I.e. gender-neutral terms? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/25 "2009-06-30T06:56:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > \*Hack \*for a writer who works for others (originally a coachman for hire) Over here in the UK, “hack” is just slang for journalist, often self-adopted, and doesn’t contain an implicit insult. The cross-pollination of the internet may yet change this, and I did recently see a UK article about hacks = journalists being attacked in the comments section by a US journo. Not a profession, but “Jewess” has always struck me as the zenith of un-PC. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/26 "2009-06-30T07:04:40Z")
How about “Digger” for an undertaker/funeral home owner? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/27 "2009-06-30T08:09:43Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Not a profession, but “Jewess” has always struck me as the zenith of un-PC. “Negress” also. Although personally I think it sounds kind of sexy. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/28 "2009-06-30T08:54:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Many actresses want to be called actors now. On a side note, “ **actor** ” was used in English for male and female performers several decades before “ **actress** ” came into usage, at least in print. “Actor” supplanted the word “ **player** ,” which I would like to see revived because it has a certain, uh, playfulness, but that would definitely be an uphill battle. It’s still used a lot in theater, but not much in TV or film (outside of established usages such as “The Player’s Directory”). “ **Thespian** ” was once considered a dignified synonym for “actor,” but now it conjures up the image of a pretentious ham (although the International Thespian Society might disagree). ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/29 "2009-06-30T09:36:21Z")
Bobbies or Peelers for policemen. Also “hash slinger” for short-order cooks. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/30 "2009-06-30T09:45:11Z")
Cops = Flatfoot. Infantry soldiers were once called dogfaces. US Marines—Gyrines. And that _was_ offensive. Surgeons? Called butchers. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/31 "2009-06-30T09:59:25Z")
There aren’t any EMTs or paramedics who like being called an ambulance driver. It’s pretty insulting, actually. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Spoonful_of_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/32 "2009-06-30T10:48:37Z")
[Chocolate Distribution Agents](http://mistupid.com/pictures/page089.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/33 "2009-06-30T11:32:22Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > “Negress” also. Although personally I think it sounds kind of sexy. Appearently, the suffix -ess to indicate the female gender is strictly forbidden in contemporary society. I am frankly mildy puzzled by this. It’s as if it is considered the height of insult to be identified as female? ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/34 "2009-06-30T11:49:56Z")
I have been known to refer to myself as a Jewess, but it requires an arched eyebrow at the very least. I don’t really understand why ‘actress’ is unacceptable. Male and female acting professionals are not competing for roles/jobs with each other – unlike, perhaps, police officers or the like. ‘Actress’ is in some sense disjoint from ‘actor’. And it doesn’t have the negative connotations that other female-specified occupations might. ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/35 "2009-06-30T13:24:22Z")
I’m not sure if this is what the op was getting at, but I was going to nominate “Teamster” as an archaic title - not many teamsters know how to drive a team anymore, I would guess. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/36 "2009-06-30T13:25:27Z")
Re: “Undertaker” - frowned upon in the US these days. Use “funeral director” instead (and mayeb even that one’s changed by now?) An “aside” about the word _Thespian_: it sounds so much like _lesbian_ that it’s been Har-de-har-har’ed to death by the media. Here’s one my Dad brought home from WWII: He once asked a British soldier, “Where ya headed, _bloke_?” The reply: “None of yer business, but yer headed for the nearest 'ospital if yer call me “bloke” again!” Has the term “Door-to-Door Salesman” been replaced? Q ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/37 "2009-06-30T13:49:05Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Has the term “Door-to-Door Salesman” been replaced? Yeah, by “telemarketer.” ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/38 "2009-06-30T14:04:28Z")
:)🙂 Understood, but not what I was getting at. There still _are_ door to door salesmen (vacuum cleaners, mostly, I guess), just wondered if they’re still called that? Then think about the words we use in _place_ of something which sounds worse? “My Dad’s a chemist”, sounds better than “My Dad has a meth lab!” Satire, y’all…😉 Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/39 "2009-06-30T19:21:48Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Over here in the UK, “hack” is just slang for journalist, often self-adopted, and doesn’t contain an implicit insult. > > The cross-pollination of the internet may yet change this, and I did recently see a UK article about hacks = journalists being attacked in the comments section by a US journo. Here it’s almost always pejorative and meaning somebody with little or no talent. It’s probably most often used for writers or others in the entertainment field, though it can conceivably precede anything: ‘hack director’, ‘hack musician’, ‘hack psychologist’. > [@](#): > > Not a profession, but “Jewess” has always struck me as the zenith of un-PC. In America ‘Negro’, once a perfectly acceptable term used by blacks themselves (United Negro College Fund, for example) and by white people as a polite term, is no longer used. On a scale where 1 is “polite terminology”, 5 is “archaic but not offensive”, and 10 is “socially rude pejorative”, Negro is probably around a 6- not _quite_ pejorative but getting there. Ditto _colored_. Slight hijack: What’s the accepted term for people of African ancestry who are born in the UK? Obviously it’s not African American- is it just black? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327/40 "2009-06-30T19:35:05Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > I don’t really understand why ‘actress’ is unacceptable. Male and female acting professionals are not competing for roles/jobs with each other – unlike, perhaps, police officers or the like. ‘Actress’ is in some sense disjoint from ‘actor’. And it doesn’t have the negative connotations that other female-specified occupations might. I think they’re hoping to get a better spot at the Academy Awards (I know they’re going through some shake ups – I wonder if they’ll ever announce Best Actress after Best Actor). I’m all for calling every actor an actor, regardless of gender (and bristle a bit when I hear ‘comedienne’ instead of comedian). It’s not as if it’s an ‘actman’ or something. But good luck trying to change a thousand gossip mags’ style guides. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-derogatory-names-for-professions/501327.md?page=3)