night-soil men

chained_bear commented on the word night-soil men

"London's underground market of scavenging had its own system of rank and privilege, and near the top were the night-soil men. Like the beloved chimney sweeps of Mary Poppins, the night-soil men worked as independent contractors at the very edge of the legitimate economy, though their labor was significantly more revolting than the foraging of mud-larks and toshers."

—Steven Johnson, The Ghost Map (New York: Penguin, 2006), 8

See also nightsoil, raker, and gong-fermor.

October 1, 2008