This week’s theme
New words

This week’s words
nutation
noodly
pneumic
nouveau
new-collar

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(NOO/NYOO-KOL-uhr)

MEANING:

adjective: Relating to jobs that require specialized skills, but not necessarily a college education.

ETYMOLOGY:

Formed on the pattern of other terms related to jobs, such as blue-collar and white-collar. Earliest documented use: 1984.

NOTES:

The term has been evolving. Originally it described service-sector jobs (such as store managers, salespeople, and servers) that fell somewhere between blue- and white-collar jobs. In 2016, then CEO of IBM Ginni Rometty called for developing specialized skills through nontraditional paths such as certifications, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training. She re-branded the term for the tech age (cybersecurity, cloud computing, etc.).

If you need to brush up on your collars, here’s a rundown:
blue-collar: jobs requiring manual labor, such as factory or construction work
white-collar: jobs involving nonphysical work, typically in offices
pink-collar: jobs traditionally held by women, such as childcare and secretarial work

As for me, I’m a no-collar worker, literally and metaphorically. I work in a T-shirt and what I do doesn’t feel like a job.

Some collar terms aren’t about work at all:
brass-collar (unwaveringly loyal to a political party)
arrow-collar (conventionally attractive and suave)

USAGE:

“The popular sectors offering new-collar jobs are in tech: big data, cybersecurity, generative AI, coding, machine learning, and meditech.”
Mamta Sharma; The New-Collar Revolution; The New Indian Express; Feb 1, 2025.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: