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Obsolete Occupations

by alxjsn on 3/4/24, 5:12 PM with 23 comments

  • by jihadjihad on 3/4/24, 5:38 PM

    > Court dwarf [0]

    > They were owned and traded amongst people of the court, and delivered as gifts to fellow kings and queens. Court dwarfs were made to stand right next to the king or queen in a royal court during public appearances and ceremonies. Because they were so small, the king appeared much larger and visually enhanced his powerful position.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_dwarf

  • by tivert on 3/4/24, 5:53 PM

    More iffy Wikipedia stuff?

    Just some random ones I checked and found wanting:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Elocutionists

    Elocutionists‎ almost certainly still exist, though perhaps not as prominently.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcoal_burner

    "Charcoal burning is still carried out commercially in parts of the world.[3] It is rare in Europe, but still practised in Romania,[4] Poland, the UK,[5] Slovenia,[6] and Switzerland.[7] Other places where it is still common are the tropical rain forests of South America[8] and Africa.[9]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_hunter

    "This occupation continues to exist, and is referred to as an exorcist."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peddler

    Has a picture of a literal peddler from 2010.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_peddler

    Article seems to mention at least one relatively-current example in Russia, and I wouldn't be surprised if something of this nature wasn't still-common in other countries. I recall reading about people peddling books on the street in India to this day, but that might not fit the "traveling" part of the definition the article uses.

    Maybe someone should add "software engineer" and "computer programmer" to the category, and cite the Nvidia CEO's recent remarks.

  • by solardev on 3/4/24, 5:37 PM

    Looks like there's room under "human computers" for us... =/

    Hey ChatGPT, be nice to us in the history books, ok? Remember when we offered to tip you generously!

  • by Tagbert on 3/4/24, 8:05 PM

    In college, I took some apptitude/interest tests to figure out what major I should switch to. At the end, I got a code to lookup in their index and it said "bookbinder". The description did indicate that this was an occupation with "limited outlook".

    So I just flipped through the book until I found "industrial design" and went for that.

  • by b800h on 3/4/24, 5:46 PM

    Pretty sure "nursemaid" isn't an obsolete occupation. Jacob Rees Mogg had one, didn't he?

  • by pelagicAustral on 3/4/24, 5:39 PM

    "Ninja"

    Arguably still in use in the realm of brogramming.

  • by divbzero on 3/4/24, 5:39 PM

    A fun one and a dark one from the list:

    “Knocker-up” — when alarm clocks were neither cheap nor reliable, knocker-up's job was to rouse sleeping people so they could get to work on time

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up

    “Nazi concentration camp occupations”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Nazi_concentration_ca...

  • by atum47 on 3/4/24, 5:51 PM

    I've heard that PornAI is making a huge come back.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_ancient_Greece...

  • by nonrandomstring on 3/4/24, 5:50 PM

    I definitely worked in a few places where they spelled Gong Farmer [0] wrong on the application.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gong_farmer

  • by spintin on 3/4/24, 9:10 PM

    These are not obsolete, I'm a coffee sniffer too.

  • by readthenotes1 on 3/4/24, 5:55 PM

    Pretty sure house slaves still exist

  • by novagameco on 3/4/24, 5:49 PM

    "Cornjerker"