Houseboy

A houseboy (alternatively spelled as houseboi) was a term which referred to a typically male domestic worker or personal assistant who performed cleaning and other forms of personal chores. The term has a record of being used in the British Empire, military slang, and the male LGBT community.

British Empire

Historically, houseboy was a term used in the British Empire for a male domestic servant. He was usually, but not always, a native person who worked for a British family living in the non-British regions of the empire. A female housecleaner was termed a housegirl. Both sexes often wore uniform, due to their status as domestic servants.

Military slang

Houseboy was also used as an American slang term originating in the Second World War for a young teenager who helped American soldiers perform basic responsibilities like cleaning, laundry, ironing, shoe-shining, running errands, etc. The British English term for this occupation was 'Batman'.

Gay culture

A houseboy, as used by members of the LGBT community, refers to a young man who performs domestic work, where the employment normally has an erotic, though not necessarily sexual, aspect.^[1][2]

In popular culture

Houseboys have become a plot device or stock character in literature and film.

• The cartoon character Mr. Magoo had a houseboy.
• The Houseboy, a 1973 stage play by Irving Wardle, was produced by ITV in 1982.
• The Houseboy, a 2007 LGBT film starring Nick May.
• Houseboy, a novel written by Cameroonian diplomat Ferdinand Oyono about a young African boy during the period of French colonial rule.
• Bachelor Father, a 1957–62 American TV series starring John Forsythe and Sammee Tong as his Chinese houseboy.

See also

• Housekeeper
• Fagging
• wikt:Garçon, the French word for "boy", also used as an occupational title
• House officer, previously "houseman", various grades of doctor in British hospitals
• House slave, as opposed to field slaves, during the period of slavery in the United States

References