Young Writers Society

Hi!

Does anyone know what you call the guy who works the elevator for you, you know, back in the old days (or in really fancy places)?
I'm writing a short story set around the 1910s and I need to know... also, I'm calling them "lifts" so "elevator boy" doesn't work, and "lift boy" doesn't sound right.

Please help! Thanks!

Bellboy? Porter?

I think the term was lift operator?

Porter sounds right to me. It depends perhaps on whether this person was operating the lifts truly or more just there so rich and fancy folks didn't have to lift a finger. If the latter, porter definitely sounds right.

There's also the issue of whether this is American or British English here.

pre-1930 = manual elevator = operator needed

Also, found a wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_operator

If we're calling them lifts, it seems the correct term would be "liftman".

Thanks! It's all really helpful!!