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  • #16
    Originally posted by Robert View Post
    "Night soil man" must be one of the worst.
    Still had one till I was a teen.
    G U T

    There are two ways to be fooled, one is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe that which is true.

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    • #17
      Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
      True enough. Given it was an age before automobiles and decent plumbing, there would have been any number of genuinely crappy jobs.

      One job which I wouldn't mind doing was 'cleaner of the Bank of England' - imagine what you might find when emptying your dustpan!
      Most jewelers have a sort of drain trap kind of thing in their floors, and as an apprentice my job was to clean out those traps.

      Lots of metal shavings, bits of wax, this kind of cyanide dust, and diamonds. Gems of all shapes and sizes.

      So imagine how irritated I was when a 7 ct. diamond I dropped somehow evaded the trap and went straight down the drain. Never got it back.
      The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Errata View Post
        Most jewelers have a sort of drain trap kind of thing in their floors, and as an apprentice my job was to clean out those traps.

        Lots of metal shavings, bits of wax, this kind of cyanide dust, and diamonds. Gems of all shapes and sizes.

        So imagine how irritated I was when a 7 ct. diamond I dropped somehow evaded the trap and went straight down the drain. Never got it back.
        That must been annoying. I hope your boss believed you!

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        • #19
          Originally posted by Robert View Post
          "Night soil man" must be one of the worst.
          Originally posted by GUT View Post
          Still had one till I was a teen.
          Indeed. Necessary, but not appealing.
          Were they known as 'dunny men' in Oz?

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          • #20
            Today's cull of declared occupations;
            'Image maker' - did they have PR people in those days?
            'Wheel chair man' - unclear whether this means manufacturer or user.
            'Coal whipper' - a real job. But as fossil fuels rarely respond to a good thrashing, it actually involved a shovel and backbreaking labour.
            'With Out Lure of Sauls' - your guess is as good as mine!

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            • #21
              Originally posted by SirJohnFalstaff View Post
              I really like the "knocker up", whose job was to wake people up in the morning.
              Hey, I saw that very photo on QI this week! Apparently they had a "knocker upper's knocker upper" so they themselves didn't oversleep and forget to wake everyone else.

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              • #22
                But who knocked up the knocker upper's knocker upper?

                The occupation is probably 'without cure of souls.'

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                • #23
                  Interesting site, Robert-- thanks for the link!
                  Pat D. https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...rt/reading.gif
                  ---------------
                  Von Konigswald: Jack the Ripper plays shuffleboard. -- Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut, c.1970.
                  ---------------

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                  • #24
                    Cheers Robert, that does look an interesting site...at least the top bit does. For some reason if I try to scroll down the page it jumps back to the top before I can read anything. Just me?

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                    • #25
                      That's strange, Joshua. Are you sure you're not accidentally clicking on 'top of page' in bottom right corner?

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
                        Cheers Robert, that does look an interesting site...at least the top bit does. For some reason if I try to scroll down the page it jumps back to the top before I can read anything. Just me?
                        I had the same problem at first, but if you scroll slowly on the left side of the screen, you can make it all the way to the bottom of the page.
                        Pat D. https://forum.casebook.org/core/imag...rt/reading.gif
                        ---------------
                        Von Konigswald: Jack the Ripper plays shuffleboard. -- Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut, c.1970.
                        ---------------

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                        • #27


                          A lamplighter doing his rounds in London, 1962
                          Christopher T. George
                          Organizer, RipperCon #JacktheRipper-#True Crime Conference
                          just held in Baltimore, April 7-8, 2018.
                          For information about RipperCon, go to http://rippercon.com/
                          RipperCon 2018 talks can now be heard at http://www.casebook.org/podcast/

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