the.com/blue collar
The economy's hands; the one they only clap for during a crisis.
means Describes manual or industrial workers whose jobs involve physical labor, trades, or factory/manufacturing work, as opposed to office-based professional work.
from Coined in early 20th-century America, the phrase comes straight from the laundry basket: durable blue chambray or denim shirts were standard workwear because the dark color hid grease, dirt, and sweat stains that a white office shirt never could. 'White collar,' for clerks and professionals who could keep their collars pristine, emerged as the natural opposite — the two phrases growing up together as a tidy, cloth-based class divide.
- origin
- denim and chambray hid the grime, hence the name
- myth
- not low skill, just underpaid skill
- irony
- keeps lights on, rarely gets the spotlight
- range
- welders to electricians, not just factory floors