coolie:

(also ‘cooly’; plural: ‘coolies‘; pronunciation: the letter ‘c’ is said with a ‘k’ sound, and the letters ‘coo’ rhyme with the letter ‘coo’ in “cool” and the letters ‘lie’ rhyme with the word “lee”, but not with “lie”)

Coolies

(in Asia) an unskilled worker; a porter; a labourer;

(old usage) a person from India living South Africa;

(in the USA & in the past) a Chinese worker/labourer in the States,

a railway coolie/porter

e.g.

In some parts of Asia, a porter who is hired to carry passengers’ luggage at a bus or railway station is called a coolie.

There are thousands of immigrant building coolies from Bangladesh working in the border towns with India illegally and both the governments find it difficult to solve this problem.

Mahatma Gandhi first started his fast for the betterment of all the Indians in general and coolies in particular in South Africa.

For an article on coolies at railway stations in India, please click here, for an article/news item about the coolie system at a railway station in Pakistan, please click here, and for a case of reversal where you see the British, once the masters, working as coolies at an airport in Hong Kong, please click here.
Note: ‘Collie‘, with a single ‘o’ and a double ‘l’ and slightly different pronunciation with the letter ‘o’ rhyming with the letter ‘o’ in “pot”, is a breed of dog.

Return to “porter“.

About the Author:BC Kumar

BC Kumar, an English Language Teacher, taught in numerous countries including Ethiopia, Oman and India, shares his knowledge and passion for the English Language. Disclaimer: This is a free educational website and all content has been compiled by the author. All copyrights to images and videos belong to their respective owners.

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