co-worker
co-worker
(OP)
I recently got asked by my (English) parents whether the term "co-worker" was some PC-gone-mad term or some horrific Americanism. Can anyone contribute?
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RE: co-worker
The term "co-worker" would be describing another employee you work with. Has been around for as long as I remember.
Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)
RE: co-worker
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: co-worker
"We are all company workers at Acme Engine Company, until you become management."
Wes C.
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No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
RE: co-worker
Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)
RE: co-worker
That said I thought I heard Co-worker used in the UK while I was still there but my memory isn't what it was so....
RE: co-worker
RE: co-worker
I thought workmate was that flimsy mobile workbench from a certain well know power tool company.
Did a bit of digging on wikipedia/google and think it might be American, wasn't definite though.
What's PC about it though? What discriminatory term did they think it used in lieu of?
RE: co-worker
JRaef.com
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RE: co-worker
i.e. "co-chairman", "co-vice presidents"
RE: co-worker
"...with WHOM I work ...",
not
"...with which I work ..."
JRaef.com
Eng-Tips: Help for your job, not for your homework Read FAQ731-376
RE: co-worker
I think that's it. To my ears, "co-worker" is a deliberately chosen word to make it clear that the named person is not and will not ever be a friend.
RE: co-worker
I like that! Greg Locock the terms cannot be confused with cow orker, which is a slang term of co-worker and coworker
In Canada I suppose the ones who work in the automotive area know the CAW workers (Canadian auto workers).
RE: co-worker
RE: co-worker
Fellow, for me, is too stuffy or phony. That term has fallen out of favor here in the US, maybe because of Lyndon Johnson, i.e. "Mah Fellow 'Mahrcans"
JRaef.com
Eng-Tips: Help for your job, not for your homework Read FAQ731-376
RE: co-worker
I must admit, that was the first place/time I ever heard the term and honestly assumed it was a Dilbert-ism rather than common parlance.
RE: co-worker
I sometimes use colleague as an almost derogatory term.
e.g. Some of my colleagues don't believe in the need for strict document control.
RE: co-worker
RE: co-worker
Probably not worth very much, but here’s my own rules;
A coworker is someone who works for the same company, but I never use the term to describe my boss who is one of the owners. The receptionist or one of the CAD guys are coworkers but the owners are not. The owner who is my direct supervisor is my boss. I have a problem assigning a name for the other two owners who are not my direct supervisors. I usually refer to them as ‘other owner’, which is a bit clumsy and requires too much explanation. I can’t really call them coworkers (that requires that they actually work, not just delegate) and I’m reluctant to call them my boss since I only do work for them when my work load is light. Their stuff gets dropped the instant my boss has work for me and I get to tell the other owners to go elsewhere to get their work completed. That’s just not a boss in my book.
A colleague is someone at or very close to the same level, unless at an outside meeting with Clients, then everyone is your colleague. That’s not PC, it’s courteous.
A counterpart is someone who does almost exactly the same work and has similar training and experience.
"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"
RE: co-worker
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: co-worker
RE: co-worker
RE: co-worker
RE: co-worker
'Workmates' and 'The lads' is the term we use for the fellow workers we get on with, even when a female is in the group. We aren't sexist! 'The Management' is a frequently used term but is seldom heard in a complimentary context. 'The Gaffer' is common for a popular team leader or department head. 'That pr--k' is also common, but for the unpopular ones!
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Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...
RE: co-worker
Sompting, I'm still intriged by what they thought co-worker may be PC replacement for.
I think 'lads' above is the only one so far even approaching any kind of discrimination. (No Scotty I'm not saying you're being sexist)
RE: co-worker
Classless, sexless, anythingless. By saying "co-worker" there is no possibility of transgressing any real or imaginary social boundaries.
RE: co-worker
Lads: Sort of like "guys".
Colleague: Someone I work with (regardless of employer).
?
"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
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RE: co-worker
Then there are words such as associate, confrère, partner, co-aid, ally, collaborator, coadjutor, cooperator, which under the righ circumstances may be synonymous with co-worker.
RE: co-worker
A fellow member of a profession, staff, or academic faculty; an associate. See Synonyms at partner.
co·work·er or co-work·er (kwûrkr)n.
One who works with another; a fellow worker.
Etymology
From co- + work + -er.
Latin Prefix
co- together, with
cogere, Quirinus (co-viri-nus), cohaerere, coire, colligere
Noun Singular work Plural works
work (plural works)
(uncountable) Labour, employment, occupation, job.
I go to work everyday.
(uncountable) Effort expended on a particular task.
Holding a brick over your head is hard work.
It took a lot of work to make this Wiktionary entry of the word "work"
(uncountable) (physics) A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force*distance. No work is done if the object does not move.
Work is done against friction to drag a bag along the ground.
(uncountable) (Thermodynamics) A nonthermal First Law energy in transit between one form or repository and another. Also, a means of accomplishing such transit [1].
(countable) A literary, artistic, or intellectual production.
It is a work of art.
(countable) A person of importance.
You are a piece of work.
(uncountable) The place where one is employed.
He hasn’t come home yet, he’s still at work.
(countable) A fortification.
William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
Suffix
-er (productive)
Forming nouns from nouns and adjectives with the sense of ‘person or thing connected or involved with, belonging to, having’
New Yorker, astrologer, cricketer, six-footer, three-wheeler
Forming nouns from verbs with the sense of ‘person or thing which does’
reader, cooker, computer, runner-up, do-gooder
Wes C.
------------------------------
No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
RE: co-worker
RE: co-worker
Not all colleagues are co-workers. A colleague can be someone involved in the same profession (American Heritage dictionary). Not all co-workers are colleagues; I wouldn't really think of someone who works in a completely different department, who I never see, as a colleague. I don't really think of the admin staff as colleagues.
People that I work together with for some common purpose, regardless of employer, are my colleagues. Someone who just works in my company is a co-worker, and I don't have another equivalent word I could use instead, were I to try to appease those who scream "PC" at every unfamiliar term they encounter.
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376
RE: co-worker
Co-worker is such an obvious and unremarkable compound word that I have had no luck nailing it down.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.