Thank Goodness Some Things Have Changed.

[ferlew]

Been faffing around with family and local history of late.
Looking at old buildings past and present around the area, came across the workhouse.
That led me to the Census of 1881 of the residents and staff.
Hawkers, Imbeciles, Idiots are all listed aplenty. We use the phrases so lightly these days,
Got me to wondering if there was actually some kind of medical scale they measured these poor unfortunates by?

[hc4361]

A hawker is just a travelling salesman.

I'll be very interested to know if there is such a scale, ferlew.

[emmie]

don't know to be honest, but you can add unmarried mothers into the mix, there were plenty of those who ended up in the workhouse.

[ferlew]

I am pretty amazed that in just the one institution that there is a very large percentage of 'imbeciles' and not so many 'idiots'

[Bathsheba]

They did have homes for the "seriously bewildered". I don't want to Google it and find it's not true.
~Baths~
x x x x

[Jackdaw33]

I believe there were four categories, not sure of the order:
Moron, cretin, idiot, imbecile.

[bednobs]

http://englishchamber.blogspot.co.uk/2005/09/idiots-morons-imbeciles-cretins.html
the scale

[Bathsheba]

hc....I used to have a sticker on window near door. which said "no Hawkers, no Salesmen, and can't remember what the last one was. My son made me take it down because it made me appear vulnerable.
Baths
x x

[Tilly2]

That's an interesting link, Bednobs. Funnily enough, I class 'idiot' as the least derogatory of those labels.

[ferlew]

Jackdaw, I just found another category on a document "Mongolian Idiot" - what an awful term for someone who has Down Syndrome.

[Bathsheba]

"no cold callers"
~Baths~
x x x

[hc4361]

Baths, I've got the 'no hawkers.....' sticker on my front door, too.

[murraymints]

I have that sticker ! Works for Jehovah's too !

[Tilly2]

Mine is, 'A Staffordshire Bull Terrier lives here.'

[woofgang]

http://gluedideas.com/Encyclopedia-Britannica-Volume-9-Part-1-Extraction-Gambrinus/Feeble-Mindedness.html
interesting how words change. Within my working life, the term "spastic" was a legitimate word to describe someone with cerebral palsy and even after that stopped, when assessing people with a stroke or head injury it was quite correct to describe muscle tone as "spastic" or "flaccid". These terms have been replaced by "High tone" or hypertonic and "low tone" or hypotonic.

[woofgang]

my door sign says "Don't worry about the dog, beware of the owner"

[Bathsheba]

Lol Woofgang and Tilly!
Woofgang, i've just realised what your user name means!
~Baths~
x x x

[dunnitall]

My door sticker...says....NO COLD (or hot callers)!! Had one delivery driver cracking up at the hot callers...he was brill....couldn't stop laughing! I aim to please *Chortlesplutters*

[hereIam]

17:46 - sounds like mikey talking about Trump !