Oldest profession (phrase)

The claim to be the oldest profession was made on behalf of farmers,[1] cattle drovers,[2] horticulturalists,[3] barbers,[4] engineers,[5] landscape gardeners,[6] the military,[7] doctors,[8] nurses,[9] teachers,[10] priests,[11] lay preachers[12] architects[13] housewives[14] husband-hunters[15] and even lawyers.

The Song in Praise of the Merchant-Taylors, attested from 1680, which was routinely performed at pageants at the Lord Mayor's Show, London, if the current mayor happened to belong to the tailors' guild,[17] began: Of all the professions that ever were nam'd, The taylor's, though slighted, is much to be fam'd': For various invention, and antiquity, No trade with the tayler's comparèd may be: After pointing out that Adam and Eve made garments for themselves, and were therefore tailors, it continued: Then judge if a tayler was not the first trade.

In The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries (1875),[21] Charles William Heckethorn, describing the Thugs of India, said: The hierophant, on initiating the candidate, says to him: "Thou hast chosen, my son, the most ancient profession, the most acceptable to the deity.

[27]There is some evidence that unworldly speakers (e.g. of the older generation) or unsophisticated audiences (e.g. in small towns or rural areas) were not at first aware of the phrase's newly acquired meaning.

[30] "In conclusion, he [Lord Eustace Percy] reminded the teachers that they were the most ancient profession in the world, having descended from the Academy of Plato, and they must always remember that fact (1924).

"[31] However, those "innocent" uses of the phrase tended to die out as awareness of the newly acquired meaning increased, as did the appreciation that antiquity, of itself, did not make a profession respectable.

"[35] According to the World Almanac website, nominations for the second-oldest profession include: actors, casino gambling, con men, gangsters, counterfeiters, gigolos, glassmakers, interpreters, journalists, moving companies, pharmacists, pickpockets, pimps, pirates, press agents, spies, and quacks.

[37][failed verification] Many other professions have been called the second-oldest in the media, including tip sheet-sale,[38] litigation,[39] environmental engineering,[40] professional consultancy,[41] pawnbrokering,[42] hotel-management,[43] and tomb-raiding.