Post Quiz: New Job Titles - Answers
Created | Updated Apr 21, 2019
Post Quiz: New Job Titles - Answers
What is the job/device that took the place of…?
- …steward/stewardess? Flight attendant. The first ones were male, on zepplins.
- …office mailroom supervisor? LAN manager. Where do you get your email from?
- …secretary? Administrative assistant. Not sexist, and the duties are different these days. But we bet most of them don't know shorthand.
- …knocker-upper? Alarm clock. Or rooster, if you're retro. Knocker-uppers used to have long poles and tap on people's windows to remind them not to be late for work.
- …iceman? Refrigerator repairman. Iceboxes had to be refilled every day, and the pans emptied regularly, but they were a wonderful thing if you lived in a city and didn't have your own icehouse.
- …computer (human)? Computer (digital). Or calculator. Computers did nothing all day but calculate. The Post Editor, who has done nothing all day but look for GuideML errors, sympathises.
- …book canvasser? Lulu. Publishing used to involve going door-to-door and signing up potential book-buyers. Now we have print-on-demand. Aren't we advanced? Be sure to buy Willem's new book.
- …gandy dancer? Track-laying machine. That sort of thing is done by heavy machinery now.
- …switchboard operator? Office telephone system. Not as much fun. Take it from a former switchboard operator.
- …breaker boy? Mechanical and water separators. That's still not 'clean coal', just saying.
What new jobs will emerge in the future? One wonders.
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