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cleaning staff

 
 
WBYeats
 
Reply Sat 18 May, 2013 12:09 am
If a student lives in hall, he will know every day there are some 'cleaning staff' who come to clean the bathroom and washroom; but in English are they really called 'cleaning staff'? Or are they called 'cleaners'?
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Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 447 • Replies: 4
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Pearlylustre
 
  2  
Reply Sat 18 May, 2013 12:12 am
@WBYeats,
They're usually called cleaners here in Australia, but cleaning staff doesn't sound odd.
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contrex
 
  2  
Reply Sat 18 May, 2013 12:52 am
"Cleaning staff" is a formal, official way of referring to employees who perform cleaning duties. It is how they may be described in recruitment advertisements, internal company documents, employment contracts, etc. "Cleaners" is much less formal and is more likely to be used verbally in everyday speech by the occupants of the building which is cleaned. The workers themselves may well prefer the more formal title and see it as more dignified.


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Roberta
 
  2  
Reply Sat 18 May, 2013 01:19 am
There's nothing wrong with "cleaning staff" or "cleaners." However, In the US, the word "cleaners" often refers to dry cleaners, not people who do cleaning chores. People who are paid to perform cleaning chores are often called janitors.
contrex
 
  2  
Reply Sat 18 May, 2013 01:36 am
@Roberta,
Roberta wrote:
In the US, the word "cleaners" often refers to dry cleaners, not people who do cleaning chores. People who are paid to perform cleaning chores are often called janitors.


Yes. This seems to be a British English (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc) versus US English difference. I am not sure about Canada - I see they use janitor, caretaker, custodian, and "light duty cleaner" in job advertisements.

Although British English speakers don't usually call cleaning staff "janitors" there is a category we see in office supplies catalogues "catalogs") sometimes called "cleaning supplies", sometimes called "janitorial supplies" - mops, buckets, disinfectant, air freshener, cleaning chemicals, paper towels, toilet paper, soap, etc.


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