A server at a drive-in restaurant who brings food and drinks to customers sitting in their cars.
Combination of 'car' plus 'hop' (a person who moves quickly from place to place, from 'to hop'). Originated in American English during the 1920s-1950s drive-in restaurant era.
The carhop is pure American cultural history—these servers became icons of 1950s nostalgia, and some drive-ins still employ them to recreate that vintage experience!
Carhop (car + hop) emerged in 1920s-40s American diner culture; predominantly female workers faced gendered wage theft, sexual harassment, and occupational segregation; male carhops were less common and paid differently.
Use 'carhop' gender-neutrally in historical contexts, but acknowledge that this was a gendered occupation. Use 'server' or 'drive-in attendant' for modern contexts.
["drive-in attendant","server","food service worker"]
Female carhops built the drive-in economy of post-war America while enduring systemic wage discrimination and unsafe conditions; their labor built cultural icons that often erased their contributions.
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