checkout chick
English
Etymology
From checkout (“a place at a supermarket where transactions take place”) + chick (“(slang) a girl or woman”).
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
checkout chick (plural checkout chicks)
- (chiefly Australia, New Zealand, informal) A female supermarket cashier.
- 1949 September 21, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, page 30, column 1:
- Our ‘Checkout Chicks’ Bat 100%
- 1976 June 16, The Canberra Times, page 17, column 1:
- And the checkout chick is too busy taking money to tell you how to operate your cut-price, multi-purpose, plastic encased kitchen magician.
- 2005, Melody Carlson, Fool′s Gold: Color Me Consumed, unnumbered page:
- As I set my purchases on the counter, I forget myself and slip into my old Aussie greeting and say “G′day!” to the middle-aged Asian checkout chick. She looks at me curiously but just starts adding up my purchases, then finally proclaims, “$148.76.”
- 2005, Anna Krien, Trouble on the Night Shift, Robert Dessaix (editor), The Best Australian Essays 2005, page 305,
- Checkout chicks are hassled into letting their family pass through the register without paying.
Usage notes
Usually refers to a female cashier, but may also be used of a male.