Houseboy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Houseboy, a term not in widespread use today due to a pejorative connotation [citation needed], is a male servant who performs domestic or personal chores, as in:
- Houseboy, an American slang term that originated in World War II describing a native boy who helped a soldier perform basic responsibilities like cleaning, laundry, ironing, shoe-shining, running errands, and the like. However, unlike the American "bootleboy" or British "batman", a houseboy was not employed by an officer or noncommissioned officer but by the entry-level soldier or private as a means to reduce a very heavy workload or to cut corners on a large amount of work. The employment was at first condoned but later and especially during the Korean War soldiers who were caught employing a houseboy faced stiff penalties because a lot of them became expert thieves and could be either bribed for information or have their relatives kidnapped or killed for helping Americans. By 1982, Korean houseboys were again permitted (as at Camp Casey), generally middle-aged men conspicuously older than the young troops they served.
- Houseboy, a Commonwealth term for a male housecleaner. This was usually a man of colour who worked for an English family living in a Commonwealth country. A female housecleaner is called a housegirl. Houseboys and housegirls often have to wear a uniform.
- The houseboy became a plot device or stock character in literature and film. The cartoon character Mr. Magoo had a houseboy.
- Houseboy is the name of a diary-form novel written by Ferdinand Oyono that criticizes the morality of colonialism.sv:Houseboy
