McDonald's Is Lobbying To Change The Oxford English Dictionary's Definition of "McJob"

The Oxford English Dictionary defines McJob as a "unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, especially one created by the expansion of the service sector". McDonald's is not happy about that, and is asking the OED to make a change.

The term "McJob" was popularized by Douglas Coupland's "Generation X--Tales for an Accelerated Culture," and, despite McDonald's owning the trademark for "McJob," Coupland gets top billing in the dictionary.

McDonald's has now started a petition that will aim to gain support for changing the dictionary definition of McJob to reflect what it describes as the company's good career opportunities. The fast food giant, which last year launched a recruitment campaign dubbed "McOpportunity" to attract management trainees, said the current definition of McJob is "out of touch with reality" and "insulting" to the company's staff.

In response to McDonald's petition, the OED said it always monitored changes in word usage and that these were reflected "according to evidence".

Interestingly, the Wikipedia definition--which is similar to the OED's, notes that Coupland's novel "never uses the term in reference to McDonald's, though; Andy, the book's narrator, uses the term only once, in reference to the bartending job that his friend Dag does." However slight, the reference gained mass popularity.