Say, is there a white-collar term for "proletariat"?

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Cuz I think I work in a building full of them, and somehow that term has too much of a blue collar connotation to be accurate...

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

drones

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

'Drone' is one of those weird words that has come to be used to mean pretty much the opposite of what it originally meant (ie. a bee that does no work at all, and just has sex with the queen)

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha ha, you're right. My fellow office scumbags wear vertical stripes!

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

How about 'hoi polloi'?

Why are you wanting this word, anyway?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

(ie. a bee that does no work at all, and just has sex with the queen)

well, most of us do spend all day on ILX...

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't that what Coupland meant by Microserfs?

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, looking at it again, I don't really understand the question. Are you drawing a distinction between the proletariat and blue-collar workers, or are you saying that the word 'proletariat' is blue-collar language? I don't really understand, either way.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm just looking for a word that describes people whose only point in existense seems to be just to work, breed, consume, and work more.

I.e. they got nothin' else goin' on.

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

"humans"

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

"managers"

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

"investment bankers"

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

"ilXors"

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha ha, you're right. My fellow office scumbags wear vertical stripes!

!!!

Do you work in a prison, per chance? Or on the set of an old school cops and robbers movie?

― mouse, Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm just looking for a word that describes people whose only point in existense seems to be just to work, breed, consume, and work more.

I think there's a French phrase for that, which is "metro boulo dodo" or something.

― C J (C J), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

seek out Bruce McCulloch's "Warehouse Prayer" from his recentish The Drunk Baby Project. "Dayjob kills man's spirits, cookies and cake lift him back up."

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

what'd Mark E Smith say about these folks?
"There are only 12 people in the world / The rest are paste"

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"the help"

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

"communists are just part-time workers."

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm just looking for a word that describes people whose only point in existense seems to be just to work, breed, consume, and work more.

Would the Japanese term "salaryman" fit this?

― j.lu (j.lu), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

yup, something like that.

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)

i call em "office lame-o's"

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha ha, you're right. My fellow office scumbags wear vertical stripes!

Your office has referees? (actually it's a pretty useful idea)

― Kim (Kim), Wednesday, 28 April 2004 23:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Riff raff? Plebs? Working class?

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 29 April 2004 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

so many choices: "associate," "staff attorney," "of counsel" -- take yer pick

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 29 April 2004 00:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Errr... bourgeoisie?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 29 April 2004 09:31 (twenty-two years ago)

six years pass...

hmm?

― Don Homer, I have baked a special donut just-a for you (kingfish), Tuesday, 1 June 2010 05:35 (sixteen years ago)

"Clerical"

― naus, Tuesday, 1 June 2010 10:19 (sixteen years ago)

Weekender

― literally with cash (ledge), Tuesday, 1 June 2010 10:34 (sixteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMAHtOuZtnc

― literally with cash (ledge), Tuesday, 1 June 2010 10:36 (sixteen years ago)

desk jockeys

― The Clegg Effect (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 1 June 2010 11:08 (sixteen years ago)

http://img.noiset.com/images/album/paperclip-people-floor-album-art-49925.jpeg

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Tuesday, 1 June 2010 11:11 (sixteen years ago)

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