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[–] 89 points 1 month ago (6 children)

The past had a LOT of smiths.

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  • [–] [S] 68 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Or maybe it was the sexiest profession back then.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    It’s because most anvils were tuned to G. It was considered the original root scale step because anvils often worked best when tuned to G. But back in those days, it was called Sol (Solfège.) In french, Sol means ground, which is at the bottom. Ergo, every hammer driven by the smith was really just a sort of mating call that sent all the bottoms running to the smith’s doorstep. This is where the expression “she built like an anvil” comes from

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  • [–] 27 points 1 month ago* (9 children)

    Metalsmith, Blacksmith, Gunsmith, Goldsmith, Silversmith, Locksmith, Coppersmith, Tinsmith, Wordsmith, Songsmith

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  • [–] 20 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Smiths and millers were common enough professions that basically every village had one but rare enough to be useful as a description. John the farmer would have been way too vague, leading to names that come from physical appearance, place of origin or relatives‘ given names.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    John the farmer would have been way too vague

    "De boer", or "the farmer" is the 10th most common surname in the Netherlands. Top three are "The young", "son of Jan" and "The Frisian".

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  • [–] 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Smiths were generally wealthier so they had a better diet and what amounted to medical care, and they were rarely put in combat because they were needed to make weapons. So more of them survived.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    People in cthe middle ages in ciities were wealthier and healthier, and free. People in the country were slaves or tools of the local lords. City air makes you free they would say, cities were filled with free people, and run by guilds generally, smiths chief amongst them. Other cities were more merchant ruled chiefly. The nobility forever looked down on commerce, everything except agriculture and war generally.

    You couldn't just move into a city, you needed an in, like getting accepted as an apprentice in a guild.

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    [–] 58 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    “Son, you come from a long line of Dontanswers. Now do your ancestors an honorable turn and impose the most annoying phone conversation in history on this near-stranger.”

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    [–] 33 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    You forgot to add the location. John Philadelphia Carpenter.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 month ago (1 child)
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    [–] 26 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I do this, too, and my best friend is in my phone by just his last name (the name he goes by), so when I added his wife to my phone when they got married, I put her in as "Name Hislastname," in that same way of association, like you would add someone as "bill plumber," or whatever. And I realized, wait, is this how married couples sharing a name started? Lol

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    [–] 25 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Lots of Dutch last names are ridiculous, allegedly in defiance of foreign empires forcing the people to adopt them for registration purposes.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (1 child)
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    [–] 23 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Eddie cocaine, mike shit weed.

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    [–] 21 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Japanese is more like 'bob from the long field', 'steve from the middle of the village', etc. and are often place references (certain classes had more rights before people had the right to surnames, so a bit different that far back).

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  • [–] 17 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    Before weed was legal my dealer’s name was John Budd.

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    [–] 16 points 1 month ago

    Kenny can fuck off and get a job.

    Landlord isn't a job.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Matamoros is the one I don't like thinking about.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Don't know, Electrić sounds kinda Balkan to me.

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    [–] 10 points 1 month ago

    Mr. Burns was not an accident on the simpsons.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago

    I'm a school bus driver. Our director of transportation is in my phone as "Patti Busboss". I genuinely have no idea what her real last name is.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    And then there’s the 13th-century simpleton John Fuckbythenavel

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    [–] 9 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Tons of John Work in mine. Definitely not as cool as John Wick.

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    [–] 8 points 1 month ago (1 child)
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    [–] 7 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    It works the same way in all older languages.

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    [–] 6 points 1 month ago

    everyone welcome Chad Shitbag McFuckFace to the chat

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