Slacker
The term "slacker" is used to refer to a person who avoids work.
Origin
According to different sources, the term slacker dates back to about 1790 or 1898. It gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early to mid 20th century, when Sudanese labourers protested their relative powerlessness by working lethargically, a form of protest known as "slacking."
World War I
In the United States during World War I, the word "slacker" was commonly used to describe someone who was not participating in the war effort, especially someone who avoided military service, an equivalent of the later term "draft dodger". Attempts to track down such evaders were called "slacker raids." During World War I, U.S. Senator Miles Poindexter discussed whether inquiries "to separate the cowards and the slackers from those who had not violated the draft" had been managed properly. A San Francisco Chronicle headline on September 7, 1918, read: "Slacker is Doused in Barrel of Paint." The term was also used during the World War II period in the United States.
Late 20th century
The term achieved renewed popularity following its use in the 1985 film Back to the Future–"You've got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker! You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too."
The term has connotations of "apathy and aimlessness." It is also used to refer to an educated person who avoids work, possibly as an anti-materialist stance, who may be viewed as an underachiever.
Popular culture
"Slackers" have been the subject of many films and television shows, particularly comedies. Notable examples include the films Clerks, The Big Lebowski, and Office Space, as well as the television show Beavis & Butt-head.
The documentary Slacker Uprising described an attempt to rouse those under 30 to participate in the 2004 U.S. election. The Idler, a British magazine founded in 1993, represents an alternative to contemporary society's work ethic and aims "to return dignity to the art of loafing."
See also
- Hikikomori
- NEET, "Not currently engaged in Employment, Education or Training"
- Procrastination
- Refusal of work
- Sloth
- Waithood
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