There are three teenagers in my family now, and as the month of June swiftly approaches, the topic of summer jobs has come up several times. Me to college son: “Aren’t you going to look for a summer job?” (He cites summer classes and travel plans as an obstacle.) Or daughter at the dinner table, “I’ve gotta find a job this summer. I need money.” (She needs to fund her weakness for sushi.)
While discussing job options, I shared that the teens’ father bussed tables during high school summers, which prompted my youngest to ask, “What the heck is bussing tables?” It was a curious question, how the “bus boy” got his name, and the Word Nerd had to research.
According to Barry Popik, a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary and an expert on the origins of many food related terms, the term “bus boy” was used in the late 1800’s as a shortened form of “omnibus boy” to describe a waiter’s assistant who performed many or “omnibus” tasks, including filling water glasses, shuttling plates to and from the kitchen, and cleaning tables. (Omnibus means of, related to, or providing many things at once.)
“Bus boy” was cited in print as early as 1902, and the term “bussing tables” is seen in print from 1945. In those days, the waiter’s assistant was almost always a boy or man, but now women also perform this work, so the term “busser” is used more often.
If you like learning about the origin of words, visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion for Wondrous Words Wednesday. Each week, bloggers share favorite words or new words they’ve learned.
Did you know where the term bussing came from? Do you have any other curious words about summer jobs to share? Cheers to summer, and hopefully, summer employment!
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Interesting as always! My daughter will be a busser this summer – her first regular gig. Part of growing up 🙂
Good for her! It’s hard work.
I’ve never thought of where that term came from and am glad to be enlightened. My first summer job was waiting tables and we had dedicated bussers at the time. Now, it seems the servers do a lot of the bussing themselves.