The job title tide began to turn sometime in the 1970s with the advent of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), but became most prevalent in the '80s and '90s when waiters and waitresses became servers; garbage truck drivers were suddenly sanitation engineers; mailmen morphed into mail carriers; secretaries became administrative or executive assistants, and so on.
Ten years into the new millennium, what's next step in this linguistic evolution? Will sanitation engineers become recycling operatives? How about swapping out server for ambulatory sustenance facilitator? Where do we start to draw the line? (Maybe the Twitter revolution will actually help shorten job titles!)
Here are several job titles which were deemed drab or demeaning (and in some cases downright sexist) by society, and what they are now:
Old Title | New Title |
| Babysitter | Nanny |
| Barman | Bartender |
| Butler | Personal Assistant |
| Delivery Boy | Courier |
| Entry-Level | Jr. [Insert Grandiose Title Here] |
| Fireman | Firefighter |
| Freelancer | Contractor |
| Garbage Man | Sanitation Engineer |
| Housewife | Stay-at-home Mom |
| Intern | Apprentice |
| Maid | Housekeeper |
| Mailman | Mail Carrier |
| Networker | Web Communications Specialist |
| Nurse | Health Care Specialist |
| Payroll Clerk | Human Resource Specialist |
| Policeman | Police Officer |
| Salesman | Sales Associate |
| Secretary | Administrative Assistant Executive Assistant |
| Soda Jerk | Barista |
| Stewardess | Flight Attendant |
| Waitress | Server |
Remember you are NOT your job.
