I want to be an Emasculator

Each day at work I like to look at my Forgotton English daily calendar to see if there’s anything new I can learn.  The nice thing about this calendar is that not only does it give a forgotten word and it’s definition (today’s word – “chicken-man”) but it also includes a historical tidbit that goes with the date.  Today’s entry was very funny so I thought I’d let you see it.

It’s Off to Work We Go

On this date in 1801, Britain’s first census was begun.  In an 1881 survey, residents were asked to furnish their “rank, profession, or occupation.”  Some of the more unusual verbatim responses, either entered by the subjects or by interviewers and preserved by the London Genealogical Society, included: “Teacher of Wax Flowers,” “Hand in Hartley’s Jam,” and “He play all day long.”  Here are others:

• Egg cracker
• Slob brickmaker
• Emasculator
• Dog performer
• Sampler of drugs
• Formerly fat
• Turnip shepherd
• Very feeble
• Proprietor of midgets (my favorite)
• Gymnast to house painter
• Knocker-up of workpeople
• Fifty-two years an imbecile
• Examiner of underclothing
• Colourist of artificial fish
• Supposed to be a lady
• Rust attendant at lavatory

Thanks to Shane and Tisha for this very entertaining gift!