Let's try and get 1,000,000 replies to this post

[Saapanael]

Happy Valentina’s day!

 

[Brigantium]

I'm wondering if I shouldn't be a librarian. Right now, it seems like the absolute perfect job for me:

Surrounded by books all day
As far away from telephones as possible
The job requires you to tell people to shut the fuck up

Sounds like a dream...

Ook. (Assuming you're familiar with Terry Pratchett.)

 

[Ariana]

He's not. Despite my tireless efforts.

 

[Black Wizard]

He's not. Despite my tireless efforts.

Sad!

 

[Perun]

We're playing a game. Does "tractor driver" qualify as a profession?

 

[Saapanael]

I say it does.

 

[Ariana]

I win!

 

[The Flash]

I say it doesn't. Driver is the profession.

 

[LooseCannon]

Isn't a tractor driver a farmer?

 

[Ariana]

That must be the case in Canada, apparently. But in Soviet Russia and in Socialist Bulgaria, a tractor driver is a tractor driver and nothing else.

 

[Perun]

Isn't a tractor driver a farmer?

That's my point. By that standard, a person driving a police car wouldn't be a policeperson but a police car driver.

 

[LooseCannon]

I've never seen nor heard of a person who goes around freelancing his incredible tractor-driving abilities.

 

[Ariana]

Guys, do you think freelancing exists in Eastern Europe?

 

[Perun]

Argumentum ex socialismo

 

[Saapanael]

"Tractor driver" is probably one of the first professions I learned as a kid.

 

[Ariana]

When I was in first grade, we had to learn by heart a short poem that contained the verse "My dad is a tractor driver and I am going to be a tractor driver too."

 

[Saapanael]

A generation of tractor drivers. There was a very old tractor at a place in the countryside that I used to visit as a child. Was just about the coolest thing ever.

 

[Brigantium]

Depends how the division of work operates locally to you. It's more general 'agricultural labourer' AKA 'farm hand' here, but that's because hired farm workers are expected to be able to do a bit of everything on a farm, and a lot of them are freelance.

Then there's the fun debate about the definition of 'profession'. We kept being told journalism wasn't a profession, but being a lawyer is.

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

That must be the case in Canada, apparently. But in Soviet Russia and in Socialist Bulgaria, a tractor driver is a tractor driver and nothing else.

In Soviet Russia, tractor drives you.

 

[Magnus]

When I was in first grade, we had to learn by heart a short poem that contained the verse "My dad is a tractor driver and I am going to be a tractor driver too."

It's miner actually. And тракторист is/was, here at least, not just a profession, but a subculture by itself.