Caution: Polysyllabicism operates here

"Caution: Operatives at work". So ran the announcement on the back of a heavy waste disposal vehicle that I found myself following the other day. In the old days the phrase was the straightforward "Danger, men at work". What, I wondered, is the difference between a man and an operative ? Easy - the term 'operative', like 'worker' is gender-neutral. It wouldn't sound right to say 'Danger, men and/or women at work', or 'Danger, workers at work', any more than it would sound right to say 'Danger, operatives operating'.

'Operative' and operation are derived from the Latin opus (singular) and opera (plural) - terms regularly used in English, especially in artistic and musical circles. To the Romans the term meant 'work', and we speak today of the works of Mozart or Tolstoy or van Gogh.

Perhaps* it is right to consider that waste disposal is an occupation as creative as writing an ode or a sonata. Conversely, we might** agree that it can take as much out of a person to write an ode or to perform a piano solo as it does to carry a loaded dustbin and hoist it up to pour the contents into the back of a truck. Only nowadays, of course, there is a powered hoist that automatically lifts the wheelibin up the back of the lorry and tips out the contents. So much easier for the refuse operatives. But - as yet - no such mechanical aid for the poor art operatives.
* I said perhaps. ** I said might .

Caution: polysyllabicism operates here