McJob and the Oxford English Dictionary

So. Mcdonalds want to rewrite the English language by erasing the word McJob from that responsible guardian of verbal verities, the Oxford English Dictionary. Here’s the story from Lawdit, the intellectual property solicitors.

The

UK

arm of McDonald’s is planning a campaign to have the dictionary definition of a McJob changed. The Oxford English Dictionary says it is: "An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, esp. one created by the expansion of the service sector."  Lorraine Homer from McDonald’s, however, said the firm felt the definition was "out of date and inaccurate".

The fast food chain is planning a public petition to try to get the definition changed. The word McJob was first used in the

US

in the 1980s and was popularised by Douglas Coupland’s 1991 book Generation X. It first appeared in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary in March 2001. McDonald’s tried to improve the image of its employment opportunities last year with the slogan: "McProspects – over half of our executive team started in our restaurants. Not bad for a McJob."

Now I think it’s laudable (a couple of letter changes make the word laughable) that McDonald’s are now concerned about fairness, keen for everyone to use accurate descriptive terminology, and aspire to be supportive enablers of their employees’ prospects. And I do think if a company has genuinely turned around, and is now espousing and promoting fair trade, fair labour practices reflected in liveable wages as a global and not only locally expedient policy, and works credibly towards not only image change but to evidence a change of ethical substance, then that’s to be commended and rewarded.

However – rather than remove the pejorative McJob, Mcdonalds could inspire new words like McFairpay, McFairtrade, McHealthy, McOrganic. If they carry on appealing to the courts, and using their commercial weight, they might generate the even less welcome neologism, McLitigation.