Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-request>
Title: a person who works in a copy shop
Question: So far I've found  xeroxer  but I'm not sure if it's a common term and also if the term is specifically used to describe people who make copies in offices rather than running a business independently and having a shop of their own. I need to check it with an English native speaker. Is it a common word? If not, what do you usually call them?

Answers:
sents: text: In British usage, this is one of those situations where there is not one word.
text: A person who works in a copy shop is just that.
text: They might say "I work in a copy shop" or possibly describe themselves as a "copy shop assistant".
text: A person who runs their own shop might say "I run a copy shop".
text: Most copy shops here do other things as well, e.g. print posters, business cards, print or copy photos
text: etc, so they might be called 'copy and print shops'.
text: Also, very few jobs in offices involve only operating a photocopier.
text: There are "general administration" jobs which involve data entry, photocopying, mail distribution, franking and dispatch, scanning, etc.
text: Also, the term "Xerox" to mean "any photocopier" is mainly American; where I work the copier is made by Kyocera and is just called 'the copier'.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/46805/Michael Harvey
score: 2
sents: text: I've never heard the term xeroxer , and I think it would be confusing to most native English speakers if you used it to describe someone who works in a copy shop.
text: The verb to xerox was common when photocopiers first became popular, probably because Xerox invented the photocopy machine.
text: But I would say the verb has become less popular in the last few decades, as many companies now produce and sell photocopy machines.
text: Instead of xeroxer , you can call a copy shop employee a clerk or an associate .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/33837/Ringo
score: 2
sents: text: New occupational (and avocational) nouns can be formed by analogy as the need arises: photographer , programmer , coder , blogger , gamer , snowboarder .
text: The natural choice here, photocopier , was already used for the device itself.
text: I'm a xeroxer at a print-shop would certainly be understood by most native speakers of American English who are adults (little kids and even some teens might not recognize "xerox")
text: but most people would probably say a desk-clerk at a print-shop or something like that.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/10264/Tᴚoɯɐuo
score: 2
sents: text: The term 'xeroxer' mentioned in one of the other answers actually does follow the standard rules in English for describing a job.
text: However, it has three issues: 'Xerox' as a generic verb was really an American English thing, but even here in the US
text: it's not widely used anymore.
text: 'Xeroxer' is essentially unused.
text: So on top of the base word not being widely used, you're likely to have to explain the word to people.
text: Even if you get past the first two issuses, the term is more likely to be interpreted by most people as 'a person who makes copies', not 'a person who works in a copy shop', because the term 'xerox' refers to the copying machine (not the shop) or the action of using it.
text: As stupid as this may sound, I would actually advocate just saying a person who works in a copy shop' .
text: While it's not short and concise, it's completely unambiguous (unless you have to explain what a copy shop is, which you might in some places), and the 'X works in/at a Y' construct is bordering on a fixed phrase in English, as it's quite often the only way to clearly express what a person's job is.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/60565/Austin Hemmelgarn
score: 1
sents: text: You could go old-school and use the word printer .
text: Of course, language has evolved to where we now think of printers as the machines that print for us, but there was a time where the printer was the person who operated the printing press.
text: NOAD defines printer this way: printer ( n. ) a person whose job or business is commercial printing.
text: a machine for printing text or pictures onto paper, especially one linked to a computer.
text: Incidentally, I found a job listing for what sounds like the kind of person you are talking about.
text: It was not for a person in a commercial printing shop, but for a person who would spend their day making copies for a consulting firm.
text: Qualifications include: Operate digital and color equipment in Print Shop Point of contact to receive, review and electronically log customer jobs Operate office/production equipment (printer, copier, fax, scan) Operate standard finishing equipment (e.g. paper cutters, inserters, laminating, and hole punchers) The job title?
text: Print Production Level 3 .
text: That doesn't really work as a name of the person, but I suppose you could say that such a person is a member of the print production staff .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/113/J.R.
score: 1
sents: text: 150 years ago,it would have been printer's devil .
text: If I had that job, I would love that term.
text: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer%27s_devil
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/10236/Chris Johnson
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
"Xeroxer" is not used. One might say "a person who works in a copy shop", or  "copy shop clerk/assistant". An owner might "run a copy shop".
Xeroxer is a neologism deriving from the printing company Xerox. Copy shop assistant would be used as a job title.