Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in
 
blue collar

blue collar

Date: Jan 23 2003

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“I’m very blue collar. I was a carpentry major in high school. If acting didn’t work, I’d have my hammer and my tool belt, and I’d be banging nails.”
- Matt LeBlanc, star of the TV show Friends, talking about acting.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

regular, ordinary, common

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

Blue collar” was originally used to describe people who worked at jobs that didn’t pay a lot of money. Factory workers were called “blue collar” because they wore protective clothes. People who worked in offices were called “white collar” because they usually wore suits with white shirts.
The current meaning of blue collar is less specific than it used to be. You can use it to describe anyone who’s just a regular person. Someone who lives and ordinary life and doesn’t do anything special could be called blue collar.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””Joe is a pretty regular, blue collar guy. He just goes to work every day and does his job.”“

””I don’t want to be blue collar. I want to be rich. I want to be famous!”“

””There’s nothing wrong with being blue collar. You should just live your life the way you want to. Don’t worry about what other people think of you.”“

””The star of the TV show Joe Millionaire is a blue collar dude. He’s not a big star yet, but he might be after being on the show.”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

Blue Collar is a person who works in the manufactury, to be especific that person is the first in the work pyramid in a company. Blue Collar is a name who machine operators, manufactures line process workers, etc…
by Eduardo (São paulo, Brazil)
I guess the term blue collar means hard worker, and is handy.
by Francisco (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil)
In this case the word “collar” schows the social status of the person. “Blue collar” is here an industrial worker, and “white collar” is an office worker. Sometimes also used “pink collar” – service employee.
by Lisa (Moscow, Russia)
I guess it means that he behaves as a blue collar worker. He suits the personality of a blue collar worker or someone who labors much.
by Elaine
Blue collar’ here means having capability to do the physical work.
by Grace from Toronto
Blue collar” refers to people who do hard work with their hands, as opposed to “white collar”. “I am very blue collar” here means he could do labor or mechanical work just as well as his acting.
by Hueiying (Taiwan)
Blue collar’ refers to workers and jobs that involve physical labor. The idea is that workers who do physical labor wear shirts made of denim, which is blue. Workers who work in offices are called ‘white collar’ workers, because they typically wear white dress shirts.
by Asad (Karachi, Pakistan)
Blue collar” (adj.) related to the workers who do the hard and dirty works with their hands, usually with the tools of hammers and nails. Their uniforms are usually blue. Unlike the “while collar”, for the latters are wearing while shirts, working in the office, earning money not by hands but by brains.
by Cecilia (Taipei, Taiwan)
“I’m very a blue collar” means someone who works using physical
strengh or skill with his or her hands rather than working in
an office.
by Jaume (Argentona, Spain)
If someone is very blue colloar, it means that he works physically.
by Tony Lin (Taipei, Taiwan)
Comparatively to ‘White Collar’, I think ‘Blue Collar’ means the people who do physical force work for a living, like bearer, cleaner, etc.
by Antonia (Lancaster, UK)
A “blue collar” ia a working person, one who works using his/her hands. Based on “white collar,” a clerical worker.
by GC
Being “blue collar” means someone does not sit at the desk and does kind of paper work, but instead prefer skill learning. If you belong to the blue collar class, you make a living by skills, like being a plumber or a carpenter and so on.
by Regina (Taiwan)
I think the blue collar here means toilsome, work hard!
by xd
The compound adjective “blue-colar” in this week’s quote means “a manual or industrial worker” . It is the opposite of “white-colar”, which means “office wroker”
by Najib (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
In my view, “blue collar” means Joey did work hard and have a tough period.
by Cosette(Tawian)
Blue collar means simple origin, like an operator or a professional worker, like a carpenter.
by Marialba
Blue collar means hard-work people who use strength and sweat to earn money. A blue collar worker usually works outdoor and gets lower pay.
by Ivy (Malaysia)
Blue collar means worker job or manual job. We used to describe lower-level jobs (such as miners, construction workers,etc).
by Roohollah
Blue collar here means people without a very high education and mostly their job is labor concerned.
by Sally
Opposite of “white collar”, means the workers who earn by labour or mechanic.
by Judy (Shenzhen, China)

Want to guess next week's slang?

The iTEP® test

  • Schedule an iTEP® test and take the official English Practice Test.

    Take Now >

Likes (6):

See all >

Share this lesson:

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Bebo
  • Share on Myspace
  • Share on Twitter
  • Email this to a friend
  • Share on Sina

Post Ebaby! lessons on your blog:

Ebaby! Cast