Talk:world's oldest profession

I just wanted to point out that the Bulgarian æquivalent of this expression may also mean espionage and I am not sure which of them is more likely to be the oldest profession. But this is irrelevant here and the quæstion is whether in English this expression may also mean espionage. I would be quite surprised, if it does not. The uſer hight Bogorm converſation 20:12, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
 * No. In English it always means hooking or prostitution. Now there's a lot of debate as to what the second oldest profession is, but as far as the first it's always prostitution. In finding the translations from other Wiki users I made sure to ask them if they knew what that oldest profession was before I proceeded, so I know they understand and that it's legitimate in their language. :) Mike Halterman 20:18, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps do a google search of the term in Bulgarian and see what the most common results are in pages? That may tell you if it's suitable for the translation section. Mike Halterman 20:20, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

I just want to point out that prostitution is, of course, not the oldest profession historically. Because in order for someone to habitually make a living by offering sex to another, this other must habitually acquire enough food to feed the both of them. Therefore, prostituion may well be the second oldest profession, but the oldest will always remain that of hunter-gatherer. (It seems, however, that hunters do not generally raise their lawful claim to the title.) Kolmiel (talk) 14:00, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

RFD discussion: September 2017–February 2018
As with world's oldest occupation, deleted above. world's + oldest profession. bd2412 T 17:08, 15 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Delete : I don't care that much, but let's be consistent with the decision made in the similar case mentioned. This can be argued to be sum of parts with respect to oldest profession. --Dan Polansky (talk) 09:35, 18 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Later: seeing the Ngram I posted below, I am not sure this should be deleted; it is rather common relative to "oldest profession" and that recommends keeping to me, maybe as a redirect. --Dan Polansky (talk) 16:40, 17 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Keep: this is by far the commonest expression. - Sonofcawdrey (talk) 02:30, 17 October 2017 (UTC)
 * @Sonofcawdrey: As per, oldest profession alone is more common than world's oldest profession, but it is true that world's oldest profession is more common than oldest occupation. For reference, the previous discussion is at Talk:oldest occupation. --Dan Polansky (talk) 16:26, 17 November 2017 (UTC)
 * @Dan Polansky: Yes, that is true - I even checked with subtracting the overlap . (Mind you, I didn't exclude second oldest profession, third..., etc., which would reduce the disparity more). Nevertheless, the NGram viewer is only matching Ngrams, not lexical items. When I look at Google Books, countless examples of "oldest profession" are not lexical items or noun phrases: "Which is the oldest profession in the world?", "It is a common saying that prostitution is the oldest profession", "In fact I think it is the oldest profession in the world". I think that the expression "the world's oldest profession" is more lexicalised, or more nounal, more often (though not all examples of this can be counted as nouns either). - Sonofcawdrey (talk) 03:51, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Delete, it is covered by oldest profession. Kiwima (talk) 04:26, 19 November 2017 (UTC)


 * Tempted to keep or redirect. "Oldest profession" doesn't necessarily imply "world's oldest profession". What happens when we send a bunch of uptight Puritans to Mars like we did with America? Equinox ◑ 04:42, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Keep or redirect. I've only ever heard it mentioned as the three words, to the point that it could be considered a set phrase. --Dmol (talk) 05:08, 19 November 2017 (UTC)


 * RFD kept: No consensus for deletion. --Dan Polansky (talk) 19:39, 3 February 2018 (UTC)