# Defunct professions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198 "2016-09-29T13:03:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/121 "2016-10-04T02:07:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Elevator operator is a nearly defunct position, although there still may be some in high-end buildings. In the 1970s my summer job was as an elevator operator of manual elevators (operated by a [switch](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9hF5H_eN-j4/maxresdefault.jpg) instead of pressing buttons). There probably aren’t any of those left any more, at least in public use. Every week I stop in to singly or in succession shop read or pee at the Argosy Book Store on 59th St. (Photo: [http://static1.squarespace.com/static/507dba43c4aabcfd2216a447/t/510aa33de4b024194a79ce1f/1359651646408/books9.jpg](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/507dba43c4aabcfd2216a447/t/510aa33de4b024194a79ce1f/1359651646408/books9.jpg)) and get to switch that switch if I ask nice on the elevator ride. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/122 "2016-10-04T02:12:52Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > If you count quasi-museums, which continue to have working industrial diaplays, no profession will ever cease to exist. I recently saw a video of a guy who demonstrates a Mergenthaler linotype machine at a museum. I once worked for a newspaper that used one, and the most amazing hours of my life were sitting there watching the operator run the machine. Ex hot-type typesetter here. I did the hand forms (a la Gutenberg up to Linotype) still done, and fooled around on the Linotype when the boss let me. Fun fact: The New York Times used to preferentially hire hard-of-hearing Linotypists. Unbelievable racket down there. Mrs. Bloom was a copy girl back in the day, and told me about the yelling and hand-signaling. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/123 "2016-10-04T03:58:31Z")
There were elevator operators on Capitol Hill when I was there on an internship in 1987. Don’t know if they’re still on the job today. No more scriveners these days, I think. Bartleby will have to retrained. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/124 "2016-10-04T14:10:49Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > My defunct profession was a pin setter at a bowling alley after school. I doubt if any lanes still have manual pin-setting anymore. I also used to manally load clay pigeons at a trap-shoot. One of the Sporting Clay courses I frequent has a “trapper” that travels with the group. He hand loads the birds for each stand and throws them on command. He’s paid as part of the fee, but each shooter usually kinks in another $5. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/125 "2016-10-04T14:47:24Z")
$5 is a cheap kink. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/126 "2016-10-04T15:02:18Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I think to be truly “defunct” a profession must meet some criteria. It is actually surprisingly difficult to think up a profession no-one still does, somewhere. > > 1. It has to be something no longer useful, because the good or service is either no longer used, or done cheaper and better some other way. > > 2. That isn’t enough, because there are whole categories of goods which are no longer used, but are collector’s items or have some specialist interest. No one “needs” a medieval broadsword, but forging them is nonetheless an existing occupation. > > 3. Also, even if the good or service can be performed some cheaper way, there are whole categories of activities people do anyway, because it is fun, or because handmade has qualities superior to machine-made (so, lots of potters still exist, both as hobbyists and because there is still a market for hand-made pottery, even though machines can stamp out pots very cheaply). > > 4. Also, there cannot be a lot of interest in knowing how it was done. There are still people who specialize in such archaic skills as flint-knapping, just to learn more about ancient flint-knappers. > > 5. Thus, a good candidate for truly “defunct” professions are industrial occupations, in which laborious, dirty and/or dangerous activities have long been replaced with improvements to machinery - assuming the occupations don’t still exist somewhere like North Korea. Well, if you are going to include North Korea, then my WAG is all bets are off…they are frozen in time and so secretive that they could have any old, defunct (everywhere else) equipment or manual labor practices still going on. I think anywhere BUT North Korea that switchboard operators are out pretty much defunct, though. There is no use having someone sit and manually connect physical network connections via a plug when electronic switching equipment can do it better and orders of magnitude faster. Doing a Google search, the only people listed as ‘switchboard operators’ these days are usually people acting as receptionists in one way or another…either for email or for voice calls coming into a central reception desk. But that’s not what an actual switchboard operator used to be, so I think this is a good candidate even using your criteria. Sadly, I think buggy whip makers are still a thing, if only a niche thing. You can still get buggy whips and riding crops after all. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/127 "2016-10-04T20:07:56Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Well, if you are going to include North Korea, then my WAG is all bets are off…they are frozen in time and so secretive that they could have any old, defunct (everywhere else) equipment or manual labor practices still going on. That’s just the problem: given that this planet still has all sorts of folks in various states of development (or impoverishment), it is really hard to think of any occupation that is well and truly “gone”. Reduced in numbers, existing only as odd niches, or only existing in really economically backwards places - sure, plenty of those. But totally “gone” is tough. > [@](#): > > I think anywhere BUT North Korea that switchboard operators are out pretty much defunct, though. There is no use having someone sit and manually connect physical network connections via a plug when electronic switching equipment can do it better and orders of magnitude faster. Doing a Google search, the only people listed as ‘switchboard operators’ these days are usually people acting as receptionists in one way or another…either for email or for voice calls coming into a central reception desk. But that’s not what an actual switchboard operator used to be, so I think this is a good candidate even using your criteria. > > Sadly, I think buggy whip makers are still a thing, if only a niche thing. You can still get buggy whips and riding crops after all. That’s a possible one. I thought of another - the original "calculator’. A ‘calculator’ used to be a job title, for someone who spent all day toting up figures by hand, or using a mechanical aid like an abacus. Electronic calculators are now so cheap and ubiquitous that they may have completely eliminated this as a profession, even in the most backwards places. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/128 "2016-10-04T21:37:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > No more scriveners these days, I think. Bartleby will have to retrained. Scrivener – lovely word IMO. An uncle of mine, who was a schoolteacher, wrote – long ago – for his schoolkids to perform, a play about Robin Hood and his doings – including of course, the highly-evil Sheriff of Nottingham. He included a part, for the Sheriff’s Scrivener; a rather timid clerkly character who accompanies the Sheriff and his band wherever they go, in order to write down a highly-edited version of law-enforcement’s proceedings. The Sheriff, being a total villain, bullies the Scrivener mercilessly, as he does all his underlings. At one point, the Scrivener messes up what he ought to be writing: Sheriff grabs the document from him, looks it over, and bellows: “Where the heck did you learn to scriven? This is terrible spelling, even for the Middle Ages !” Lame humour, maybe; but it has always cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/129 "2016-10-05T00:12:13Z")
I use to hand paint maps. Oil on linen. One map could take weeks. They cost thousands of dollars. Now I can spit out maps like that in minutes. But I still have a job as a GIS programmer/analyst. No one hand sets type anymore, I suspect it’s sort of similar. But once type was set, thousands could be printed. Not so with these hand painted maps. Sadly, I don’t own one myself. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/130 "2016-10-05T10:49:58Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > True. Barrels used to be the default shipping container for bulk goods - as evidenced by the name of that chain restaurant with the folksy, general store ambience. They still are, kind of. It’s only that now the containers of the same shape are made of plastic and called drums. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/131 "2016-10-05T13:09:50Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I thought of another - the original "calculator’. A ‘calculator’ used to be a job title, for someone who spent all day toting up figures by hand, or using a mechanical aid like an abacus. Electronic calculators are now so cheap and ubiquitous that they may have completely eliminated this as a profession, even in the most backwards places. However it could be argued that the racetracks bookie is really better than buying electronic tickets because the bet taker calculates the odds and returns in his head… ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/132 "2016-10-05T13:21:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m definitely not competent to say one way or the other. I can’t honestly say now whether the crew described it as burning “oil” or “Diesel oil”. > > But I can say that in normal operations, including initial acceleration from a standstill, it wasn’t leaving a heavy black trail like in that pic I linked. That strikes me as them “coal rolling” for the cameras in some way… Maybe coal rolling, or maybe it was the fuel in use. A book on her says that they used diesel if that was all that was available. > **[The Delta Queen](https://books.google.com.au/books?id=REHTpXcEWJcC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=delta%2Bqueen%2B%2Bfuel&source=bl&ots=YzpiSsxz5r&sig=7mAjmopmGcyQttQG5kQxXYrngeI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ69mB4MPPAhUN42MKHUXiDaoQ6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=delta%20queen%20%20fuel&f=false)** Diesel ICE burn it at a high pressure… So we need to look else where for evidence of what happens when diesel is burnt at atmospheric pressure… Black smoke results. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/133 "2016-10-05T17:18:42Z")
Presumably not completely defunct but rare enough so that the name itself causes awe and wonder: [Saggar Maker’s Bottom Knocker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saggar). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/134 "2016-10-06T23:44:29Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Ex hot-type typesetter here… Ex-hot-type typesetter here. I mean, I’ve always done it optically/digitally, but I’m no longer the hot type. ---
**Author:** ![john\_b\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@john\_b\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/john_b_2)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/135 "2016-10-07T09:19:05Z")
I’m not sure about the rest of the world but in America I don’t think there are any hangmen these days. While we still execute people in some states it’s mostly lethal injections. I don’t there are too many people left whose occupations are pulling the switch to electrocute a convicted murderer, though there are doubtless retired ones. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/136 "2016-10-07T11:54:36Z")
> [@john\_b\_2](#): > > I’m not sure about the rest of the world but in America I don’t think there are any hangmen these days. > > While we still execute people in some states it’s mostly lethal injections. I don’t there are too many people left whose occupations are pulling the switch to electrocute a convicted murderer, though there are doubtless retired ones. [Hanging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States#Methods) is a legal method in Washington and New Hampshire. In WA, the inmate may choose that form. In NH, it’s listed as a legal backup method if others are not available. The last hanging took place in 1996. If I was on WA’s death row, I’d pick hanging over the others. Electrocution is legal in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Oklahoma. The latter is backup method only while the others allow inmate choice. The last electrocution was in 2013. One should never choose this method unless ones goal is create permanent nightmares in the witnesses.) (Last firing squad: 2010; last gassing: 1999.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/137 "2016-10-07T17:08:52Z")
Being a child of the suburbs, I’ve only heard of one **Eggman** in the last 50 years. Sadly, gone since 1980 (Goo goo goo joob). All right, I’m going. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/138 "2016-10-07T18:04:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Being a child of the suburbs, I’ve only heard of one **Eggman** in the last 50 years. Sadly, gone since 1980 (Goo goo goo joob). The Eggman lives, in Orlando. [Under a chicken,](http://www.eggmanart.com/) of course. At least if he wasn’t blown away today. I hear the storm is due to pass by around 8 O’Cluck. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/139 "2016-10-07T19:51:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Being a child of the suburbs, I’ve only heard of one **Eggman** in the last 50 years. Sadly, gone since 1980 (Goo goo goo joob). > > All right, I’m going. When I was a kid, in the early '70s, our family had a “chicken man”. One of my earliest memories was of hearing about this mysterious figure, who would arrive every Tuesday at 10:00 AM. I was never in at that time, because I was always in daycare or kindergarten. One day, I was home with a cold, and it was Tuesday! The “chicken man” was coming! I was very excited! Imagine my dismay when the “chicken man” turned out to be wrinkled old fellow in overalls with a cooler. According to my mother, when I set eyes on him I looked very sad, and said: “where are all his feathers?!”. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198/140 "2016-10-07T23:18:30Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > [Hanging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States#Methods) is a legal method in Washington and New Hampshire. In WA, the inmate may choose that form. In NH, it’s listed as a legal backup method if others are not available. The last hanging took place in 1996. If I was on WA’s death row, I’d pick hanging over the others. > > (Last firing squad: 2010; last gassing: 1999.) No “drown in a vat of wine” option? Sad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defunct-professions/767198.md?page=8)