Current Meaning
Porters are still employed to shift burdens in many third-world countries, especially where animals like camels, oxen, horses and dogs, or vehicles like carts, trucks, ships, trains and aircraft, have not taken over human bearers' traditional functions or where such alternatives are not practicable. Child soldiers are also typically compelled to serve as porters.
The Sherpa people of Nepal have established a reputation as mountaineering porters, and are considered indispensable for the highest Himalayan expeditions.
Porters who work at railway stations in India are called coolies, a term for unskilled Asian labourers. The term "coolie" was also used in China for porters in general.
The term "porter" is also used in general for hotel, railway, hospital and airport employees who shift luggage.
In many public places such as airports, border crossings, sea ports and railway stations, porters are often a nuisance to tourists, shifting their luggage without permission and demanding excessive fees.
Read more about this topic: Porter (carrier)
Famous quotes related to current meaning:
“I perceived that to express those impressions, to write that essential book, which is the only true one, a great writer does not, in the current meaning of the word, invent it, but, since it exists already in each one of us, interprets it. The duty and the task of a writer are those of an interpreter.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)