Crazy careers

Food testers had it worse than you think, and more odd jobs from the past

Image: Clem Onojeghuo

From medieval Europe to early industrial America, people have taken on some truly bizarre professions. Many of these jobs existed out of necessity, cultural tradition, or lack of technology. Others were born of superstition or unusual demands of society’s elite. From leech collectors to sin-eaters, here are 10 real jobs from history that may sound absurd today but were once legitimate ways to earn a living.

Image: David Trinks

Doctors in medieval Europe and well into the 19th century used leeches for bloodletting. To obtain the large numbers required, collectors waded into marshes and let the creatures attach themselves to their legs.

The demand was so high that wetlands across Europe were nearly stripped of leeches. Despite the grisly nature of the work, it was a stable source of income for poor laborers.

Image: Josh Olalde

In medieval England, ale tasters checked the quality and fairness of beer sold in taverns. They ensured proper strength, taste, and pricing for consumers.

While the role sounds more fun than work, it involved serious regulation. Some tasters also inspected bread, showing how essential beer was to medieval diets.

Image: Daniil Komov

While this job doesn’t sound so strange—we have modern equivalents of this after all—the comparison doesn’t fully capture how essential their work was to 19th-century cities plagued by poor sanitation and overcrowded streets.

In Paris and London, rat catchers became semi-celebrities of street life. Their work helped reduce disease risks, though they themselves faced high exposure to bites and plague.

Image: Boudewijn Huysmans

In Tudor England, "gong farmers" cleaned cesspits and privies. The word "gong" had nothing to do with the Asian percussion instrument; rather, it derived from an Old English term referring to a privy and its contents.

They worked at night to avoid public disgust, carrying waste in buckets outside city walls. The job was dangerous due to toxic fumes, but surprisingly lucrative. Workers often earned more than many skilled tradespeople, though at the cost of extreme social shunning.

Image: Jessica Kantak Bailey

In Tudor and Stuart England, princes weren’t punished directly. Instead, their "whipping boy" was flogged whenever they misbehaved—a form of indirect punishment meant to instill guilt in the young prince.

The practice only worked with boys close to the prince, ensuring emotional impact. One of the most cruel practices of the era, whipping boys often gained favor and lifelong connections at court.

Image: Griffin Quinn

A colorful euphemism for "grave robber," this profession flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries, as demand for cadavers by medical schools reached an all-time high while legal supply remained scarce.

Despite being illegal and widely despised, it was a lucrative career. The trade also created related jobs, as concerned families hired cemetery watchmen and private grave guards. In some infamous cases, "resurrectionists" even escalated to murder to meet demand.

Image: Stephen Radford

In gunpowder factories, specialized workers tested batches by igniting small amounts to check burn quality. How each batch responded to ignition determined the safety and effectiveness of the product.

The work was inherently perilous—accidents were frequent, and uncontrolled explosions could have devastating consequences for both workers and factories. Yet, gunpowder was so essential to empires that testing remained a permanent job.

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Did you know treadmills were originally designed for prisoners? Keep that in mind on your next visit to the gym. In 19th-century Britain, prisoners powered massive treadmills that ground grain or pumped water.

The devices also served as punishment through hard, monotonous labor. The so-called "everlasting staircase" could last for hours, leaving inmates utterly exhausted. Perhaps this also explains how prisoners could later easily outrun guards—talk about a double-edged sword.

Image: Amy-Leigh Barnard

Food tasters were employed at royal and imperial courts to sample dishes before rulers ate, ensuring safety from any poisoning attempts. The role existed in ancient Rome, medieval Europe, and even into modern times.

While certainly not the worst job a commoner could hold among royalty (whipping boys and grooms-of-the-stool arguably had it worse), and though some tasters lived comfortably at court, their job was literally a matter of life and death.

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In 17th- and 18th-century Britain, some families hired "sin-eaters" to consume bread and beer placed on a corpse. The ritual symbolized absorbing the deceased’s sins.

Despite their spiritual services, sin-eaters were social outcasts. Typically paid in food or a few coins, they carried a heavy stigma, as they were believed to take on the spiritual burden of the dead they served.

This is not pig Latin

Et tu, English? 12 Latin phrases we use regularly

Image: Patrick Schneider

English might be a Germanic language, but it is greatly influenced by Latin—not only in the huge number of words derived from Latin roots, but also in the many Latin phrases English speakers use on a daily basis. Here are some of the most commonly used ones!

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Literal translation: and all the rest/other things.

This is one of the most commonly used Latin phrases, but the abbreviation etc. is so widespread that people often fail to realize its Latin origins. We also write it as one word, etcetera, but the original phrase has two words: et (and) and cetera (the rest, other things that are similar).

Image: Jorgen Hendriksen

Literal translation: for the good.

The original phrase was pro bono publico ("for the public good"), dating back to ancient Rome, where wealthy and respected men provided legal advice for free—‘for the public good.’ The phrase was shortened, but its meaning remains unchanged.

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Literal translation: the state in which

Here we have another case of a longer phrase that was shortened. The original was in statu quo res erant ante bellum ("in the state in which things were before the war"), a phrase commonly used in treaties. Nowadays, its use has shifted to mean "the current state of things."

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Literal translation: word for word.

Verbatim ac litteratim means "word for word and letter for letter." This Latin expression comes from verbum (word) and can be used both as an adverb ("he said it verbatim") and as an adjective ("a verbatim report").

Image: Nika Benedictova

Literal translation: with the positions turned.

The meaning and use have remained consistent over time: vice versa is used to express that something is true when the order is reversed.

Image: Mia Mackenzie

Literal translation: to the point of nausea/sickness.

Have you ever had to listen to a discussion so long that you felt nauseated by it? If so, you know exactly what ad nauseam means. The nausea is most often a figure of speech, but there have certainly been cases of real sickness.

Image: Christoph Schmid

Literal translation: elsewhere.

Alibi was originally used as an adverb of place. Its current legal meaning—someone’s claim to have been "elsewhere" when a crime was committed—was first recorded in the 17th century. Nowadays, it’s a key term not only for lawyers and police officers but also for all true crime aficionados.

Image: Aleksander Stypczynski

Literal translation: generous mother.

What do generous mothers have to do with colleges and universities? We have to think figuratively. Alma means generous or kind, but combined with mater, it takes on the sense of a mother who nourishes her children. The first medieval university, the University of Bologna, adopted this idea as a motto: Alma Mater Studiorum, or "nourishing mother of studies."

Image: Federico Scarionati

Literal translation: prize, reward, profit.

In Latin, praemium was always used to refer to something gained. The added meaning of premium as "top quality" is of much later origin, as is the meaning of premium as "an extra fee or payment."

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Literal translation: in good faith.

We mostly associate this phrase with its legal meaning—that is, the absence of deceit or fraud. While its original use was similar, it was not necessarily limited to legal contexts and could be applied to a multitude of situations. Bona fide is generally used as an adjective, but it also has a noun form: bona fides.

Image: Jonathan Skule

Literal translation: agreement.

This word comes from the Latin consentire, meaning "to be in agreement" or "to join in feeling." From the verb, the word shifted into the noun consensus (agreement), which became the standard term for a unanimous or general agreement.

Image: Tamara Malaniy

Literal translation: to one’s pleasure.

This is a shortened version of the original Latin phrase ad libitum, which originally meant "to one’s pleasure" or "as much as one likes." The shortened version comes from music, where ad lib indicated that the musician could interpret the piece according to their taste. From there, ad lib evolved to its current meaning: to improvise or deliver spontaneously.