A gofer, go-fer or gopher/ˈɡoʊfər/ is an employee who specializes in the delivery of special items to their superior(s). Examples of these special items include a cup of coffee, a tool, a tailored suit, or a car. Outside of the business world, the term is used to describe a child or young adult who is learning how to do tasks and is sent to fetch items. A similar job is that of peon in Commonwealth countries.[citation needed]
Gofer is a linguistic simplification of the two words 'go' and 'for'. Simplified, in English, it means 'go for this' or 'go for that' and reflects the likelihood of instructions to go for coffee, dry cleaning, or stamps, or to make other straightforward, familiar or unfamiliar procurements. The term gofer originated in North America.
Career opportunities
Likewise, gofer may refer to a junior member of an organisation who generally receive the most vexing and thankless work. Law firms with a top-heavy management structure, having not enough junior lawyers to take care of menial yet necessary tasks, can be referred to as having "too many loafers and not enough gophers".[1]
In popular culture
In the 1953 movie She's Back on Broadway, at about the 11 minute mark, the word is used backstage at a Broadway show, with a clear explanation.
In the first season (1976) of the television series The Muppet Show, Scooter was given the stage manager job because his uncle owned the theater where the Muppets performed. The pun was that a gopher not only is an animal, like the Muppets supposedly are, but is a fast animal, collecting food and delivering it somewhere else. At some point in the Muppets series, Kermit the Frog suggested that he himself was a gofer, but probably didn't last long in the job.
Chavo Guerrero was considered to be a gofer for his aunt Vickie Guerrero on WWE's SmackDown for most of 2008 (Vickie was SmackDown's General Manager at the time) when they were both part of the villainousLa Familia stable. This would become a sporadic running joke on WWE programming as other superstars would mock Chavo for this reason.
In the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn, the protagonist, Colink Clark, is the third assistant director but describes himself as "a gofer, really. Go for this, go for that."
In the Taxi episode "Alex the Gofer", Alex takes a part-time job as an assistant to Broadway producers.
gofer, this, article, about, jobs, that, include, running, errands, animal, gopher, other, uses, disambiguation, gopher, disambiguation, gofer, gopher, employee, specializes, delivery, special, items, their, superior, examples, these, special, items, include, . This article is about jobs that include running errands For the animal see Gopher For other uses see Gofer disambiguation and Gopher disambiguation A gofer go fer or gopher ˈ ɡ oʊ f er is an employee who specializes in the delivery of special items to their superior s Examples of these special items include a cup of coffee a tool a tailored suit or a car Outside of the business world the term is used to describe a child or young adult who is learning how to do tasks and is sent to fetch items A similar job is that of peon in Commonwealth countries citation needed Contents 1 Etymology 2 Career opportunities 3 In popular culture 4 ReferencesEtymology EditGofer is a linguistic simplification of the two words go and for Simplified in English it means go for this or go for that and reflects the likelihood of instructions to go for coffee dry cleaning or stamps or to make other straightforward familiar or unfamiliar procurements The term gofer originated in North America Career opportunities EditLikewise gofer may refer to a junior member of an organisation who generally receive the most vexing and thankless work Law firms with a top heavy management structure having not enough junior lawyers to take care of menial yet necessary tasks can be referred to as having too many loafers and not enough gophers 1 In popular culture EditIn the 1953 movie She s Back on Broadway at about the 11 minute mark the word is used backstage at a Broadway show with a clear explanation In the first season 1976 of the television series The Muppet Show Scooter was given the stage manager job because his uncle owned the theater where the Muppets performed The pun was that a gopher not only is an animal like the Muppets supposedly are but is a fast animal collecting food and delivering it somewhere else At some point in the Muppets series Kermit the Frog suggested that he himself was a gofer but probably didn t last long in the job In the fourth season of Boy Meets World Corey gets a job as a gofer for two shady businessmen Buddy Hackett and Soupy Sales Another example of a gofer is the fictional character of Salvatore Turtle Assante Jerry Ferrara on the comedy drama HBO television series Entourage Chavo Guerrero was considered to be a gofer for his aunt Vickie Guerrero on WWE s SmackDown for most of 2008 Vickie was SmackDown s General Manager at the time when they were both part of the villainous La Familia stable This would become a sporadic running joke on WWE programming as other superstars would mock Chavo for this reason In the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn the protagonist Colink Clark is the third assistant director but describes himself as a gofer really Go for this go for that In the Taxi episode Alex the Gofer Alex takes a part time job as an assistant to Broadway producers The term gofer is used in the anime Zombie Loan Brad Pitt s character Cliff Booth is a gofer for Rick Dalton Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2019 movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood References Edit Look up gofer in Wiktionary the free dictionary Larry Fazio 2000 Stage Manager The Professional Experience Focal Press p 310 ISBN 0 240 80336 1 This job occupation or vocation related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gofer amp oldid 1144462743, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
