![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gravityeyelidsvia http://bit.ly/2TpTYJt
prismatic-bell:
glumshoe:
pitcherplant:
Tag yourself I’m ‘sampler of drugs’
apparently “knight of the thimble” was Victorian slang for a tailor
Okay, many of these are just people not knowing shit about Victorian England.
Colourist of Artificial Fish: Fish as pets were a thing, as I noted a few jobs down, so this may have been a painter of a cheaper and less lively variety of the pet.
Electric Bath Attendant: https://www.messynessychic.com/2015/10/28/electric-baths-of-yesteryear/ Yep, that was a thing.
Proprietor of Midgets: probably ran a freakshow.
Knocker-up of workpeople: before there were alarm clocks, there were the knocker-ups. Their job was literally to come bang on your window until you got up so you’d be on time to work. You can see this at work in Sherlock Holmes, where Holmes tells Watson that he was “knocked up” by Mrs. Hudson, and, in turn, “knocks up” Watson. (I have to tell you, as a 21st-century American who first read the story in question at the age of twelve, I had questions.)
Gymnast to house painter: most likely a Cockney, describing the concept that he or she would do any work that paid.
Emasculator: a tool used in the castration of cows and horses; this person may have been using the tool’s name as their profession. Given that this person was in London, they were probably employed in neutering cab horses.
Sampler of drugs: Have you seen all the weird patent medications that came out in the 1880s?? If this person wasn’t subtly referring to themselves as a laudanum addict, they may have been saying they tested new concoctions for snake-oil salesmen.
Drowner: someone in charge of a water-meadow.
Count as female: this is entirely speculation on my part, but could this person possibly have been transgender, and saying they should be considered a housewife, rather than having a profession?
Goldfish-catcher seems very self-evident. People kept pet fish back then, too, you know (although not very well).
Cow-banger: slang for dairy farmer.
Running about: may have been someone being facetious, but it’s also possible they were trying to describe a job as a messenger or delivery boy.
Grape-dryer: I invite everyone to tell me what they assume you’d call someone who dehydrates grapes to make raisins–a job that’s existed for centuries.
Noting Shoe’s addition, this leaves ten jobs unexplained, and several of those (”fatuous pauper,” “turnip shepherd”) are clearly people being sarcastic.
RESEARCH, London Genealogical Society, THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE FOR.
(Your picture was not posted)
prismatic-bell:
glumshoe:
pitcherplant:
Tag yourself I’m ‘sampler of drugs’
apparently “knight of the thimble” was Victorian slang for a tailor
Okay, many of these are just people not knowing shit about Victorian England.
Colourist of Artificial Fish: Fish as pets were a thing, as I noted a few jobs down, so this may have been a painter of a cheaper and less lively variety of the pet.
Electric Bath Attendant: https://www.messynessychic.com/2015/10/28/electric-baths-of-yesteryear/ Yep, that was a thing.
Proprietor of Midgets: probably ran a freakshow.
Knocker-up of workpeople: before there were alarm clocks, there were the knocker-ups. Their job was literally to come bang on your window until you got up so you’d be on time to work. You can see this at work in Sherlock Holmes, where Holmes tells Watson that he was “knocked up” by Mrs. Hudson, and, in turn, “knocks up” Watson. (I have to tell you, as a 21st-century American who first read the story in question at the age of twelve, I had questions.)
Gymnast to house painter: most likely a Cockney, describing the concept that he or she would do any work that paid.
Emasculator: a tool used in the castration of cows and horses; this person may have been using the tool’s name as their profession. Given that this person was in London, they were probably employed in neutering cab horses.
Sampler of drugs: Have you seen all the weird patent medications that came out in the 1880s?? If this person wasn’t subtly referring to themselves as a laudanum addict, they may have been saying they tested new concoctions for snake-oil salesmen.
Drowner: someone in charge of a water-meadow.
Count as female: this is entirely speculation on my part, but could this person possibly have been transgender, and saying they should be considered a housewife, rather than having a profession?
Goldfish-catcher seems very self-evident. People kept pet fish back then, too, you know (although not very well).
Cow-banger: slang for dairy farmer.
Running about: may have been someone being facetious, but it’s also possible they were trying to describe a job as a messenger or delivery boy.
Grape-dryer: I invite everyone to tell me what they assume you’d call someone who dehydrates grapes to make raisins–a job that’s existed for centuries.
Noting Shoe’s addition, this leaves ten jobs unexplained, and several of those (”fatuous pauper,” “turnip shepherd”) are clearly people being sarcastic.
RESEARCH, London Genealogical Society, THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE FOR.
(Your picture was not posted)
