What do we say for a job of low social class?

[moonlike]

Hi
Could you kindly help me? In my mother tongue we call it "cheap job". I wonder if we can use it as well in English or not. Of course, I looked it up in my collocation dictionary and I didn't find either that or another proper term. A job like distributing leaflets, delivering food, etc. that some may consider they have no social prestigious.
Thanks a million.

 

[5jj]

'Unskilled work' is one possibility.

 

[abaka]

McJob (my favorite)

shit job (vulgarity warning!)

unskilled work or unskilled labor.

 

[moonlike]

McJob (my favorite)

Thanks. What does it mean please?

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

NOT A TEACHER

McJob (my favorite)

Thanks. What does it mean please?

McJob - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think that "menial job" may also fit your criteria.

 

[English4everyone]

McJob (my favorite)

shit job (vulgarity warning!)

unskilled work or unskilled labor.

So can we use it as a noun and say "He has a McJob."?
How about using it as an adjective? For example "He is a McJob sales assisstant."

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

So can we use it as a noun and say "He has a McJob."?

It is a noun. Mcjob - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

 

[abaka]

"He has a McJob" is perfectly idiomatic and very common.

"McJob" as an adjective is less common but still understandable. I'd avoid it, however, because slang must be idiomatic to work well; otherwise it sounds a bit ridiculous.

 

[bhaisahab]

So can we use it as a noun and say "He has a McJob."?
How about using it as an adjective? For example "He is a McJob sales assisstant."

"He has a McJob." This is possible.
"He is a McJob sales assistant." This doesn't work.

 

[Barb_D]

I, too, agree that "menial" conveys the idea of social status that you seemed to want, along with the idea of it being low-skilled.

 

[Rover_KE]

"He has a McJob" is perfectly idiomatic and very common.

It's not in the UK. I had to guess what it meant (I guessed right).

'A menial job' sounds good to me, as does 'grunt worker' (a US military term, I believe).

There's also a gofer, whose superiors keep telling him to go for this and go for that.

I won't shout HAVE A NICE DAY!—you may be going to a funeral or to get a root-canal.

Rover

 

[English4everyone]

(P.S. A "minimum wage" is the smallest amount of money that a boss can pay someone. For example, some people work

for only $8 an hour.)

I don't want to stir your emotions, but some, in my country, work for less than that ($8 an hour).
LACK OF JUSTICE

 

[5jj]

Can we make sure that we stick to questions of language, please?

 

[charliedeut]

I think the good old "blue-collar" has been missed in this thread ;-) (if it's still in use, I mean)

charliedeut

 

[bhaisahab]

I think the good old "blue-collar" has been missed in this thread ;-) (if it's still in use, I mean)

charliedeut

A "blue-collar" worker is not necessarily unskilled or low-paid.

 

[charliedeut]

A "blue-collar" worker is not necessarily unskilled or low-paid.

But it is certainly of low class (cf. thread title), right?

 

[bhaisahab]

But it is certainly of low class (cf. thread title), right?

I'd say that's debatable.

 

[charliedeut]

I'd say that's debatable.

How come? Maybe it was a mistake on my teachers' side, or I failed to undersand it corectly, but I was always taught that 'white-collar' implied higher class while 'blue-collar' was associated to lower class.

 

[Barb_D]

When a blue-collar union worker on the auto line can earn twice what I earn with my master's, live in a bigger house and drive a nicer car, then you'd have a hard time convincing me they are lower class. And they do, so you will.

 

[charliedeut]

:?: