Peon

Copyright Mary B. Thorman All rights reserved

I have gotten several "comments/complaints" from people in the USA regarding the use of the word "peon" when referring to the man who is my regular agricultural worker.  It has finally dawned on me, that the word peon used in English has a negative connotation!  I suppose it implies a low-level, poorly paid, worker or something akin to slave labor.  In Spanish, however, it is the proper word used for relatively unskilled laborer (ex. tree surgeon, lawn care worker, shelves stocker for a supermarket). Costa Rica has strict labor laws that offer more protection than those in the USA.  I have to submit a form every month to a government agency showing all my employees and the official description or the job title for each employee, whether they are full-time, part-time, or occasional, how much they are paid, etc.  I am given a list of official job titles from which to select.  Three of them involve the word "peon."  Peon agricola is an agricultural worker.  A fancy landscaping artist is still a peon agricola as far as the government of Costa Rica is concerned.  My agricultural worker refers to himself proudly as a peon.  There is no negative connotation here to the word peon.

Before making judgments based your own culture and language regarding a different culture and language, do some research.

My PEON is a wonderful man.  He is like a son to me.  I gave him land and a house for himself, his wife, and their children who are like my own grandkids.  Thus he is not only my peon, but my neighbor, and my adopted son.

In this day and age and in this country, peon is a thoroughly legitimate term of employment.

Thank you.