Many times we have heard people refer to prostitution as the 'world's oldest profession'.

Going by Bible accounts (GEN 4:2 )however- FARMING - Crop(Cain was a tiller of the ground) AND Animal(Abel was a keeper of sheep) seem to be oldest profession.

How did prostitution come to be reffered to as 'the oldest profession in the world' in contemporary writing?

Well Thats because cain and abel NEVER existed.

Dreaming (Imagination) is the world's oldest profession, and all other professions rose therefrom. Soon it will be time-travelling (because some interesting people will go to the time before men started to dream )

Child; Mummy what is your profession?

Mum: Honey, i'm a professional dreamer

Child; What the fu ck?

MAVENB0X: Good THINKing right there! *claps*

Tudor: Mavenb0x is sort of right, I guess. I don't think she meant it that way.

Ancel, don't mind Tudor, whose name is often synonymous with "trouble-maker'.

Tudor, in that case, then maybe you need to ask the Mother. She may be an image consultant or a high-profile researcher

Child; Mummy are you an image consultant?

Mum; NO!

Child: what of a high-profile researcher?

Mum; oh hell no! Stay off the bong pipe darling. . .those have got nothing to do with a professional dreamer.

Child; Hmmm. . .*marvels at the wisdom of his mother*

@ OP - What does it matter?

Child: Mummy, is your friend Tudor on crack?

Mum: Don't you say I told you so, but I am telling you. 

Child: Mum is ancel using multiple Id's on Nairaland?

Mum: Honey, YES.

Child: Mum does that make him a hypocrite?

Mum; YES darling. . .

Child: is he also a criminal mum?

Mum: oh yes! And stay away from him! Such characters are EVIL!

Child: Yes mummy.

LMAO!!!

Child: Is Tudor female?

Mother: Is Michael Jackson female?

Child;Mum, what does acel know?

Mum; NOTHING!!

Tudór:

Child;Mum, what does acel know?

Mum; NOTHING!!

Tudor, I know this is getting ridiculous and I hope you realize that, too. Can we have a truce? 

P.S. And my name is Ancel. Not Acel. Acel has no meaning as far as I know.

Deep Sight:

@ OP - What does it matter?

it does,cos this misnomer has successfully crept into our common vocabulary & I'm a stickler for facts  

Tudór:

Well Thats because cain and abel NEVER existed.

You can't possibly be female. . .  .you're too much of a troublemaker(in a largely good natured way of course   ) if you ask me .

Mavenb0x:

Dreaming (Imagination) is the world's oldest profession, and all other professions rose therefrom. Soon it will be time-travelling (because some interesting people will go to the time before men started to dream )

lol!

I found an interesting paper on this. . . (Was written in 1970 though so there might be some new insight on the subject, but it's still interesting )

[size=15pt]TRAPPING - THE OLDEST PROFESSION[/size]

WILLIAM D. FITZWATER, Wildlife Specialist, Agricultural Extension Service, University of California, Davis, California

ABSTRACT: While trapping is probably the oldest pursuit of man, predating hunting and agriculture, it has not undergone many drastic changes since the first primitive attempts. An arbitrary classification of traps [improvised traps, snares-and nets, cage traps, spring traps and glues] is discussed and examples of each group given. As the behavioral and physical characteristics of vertebrate animals vary so much, it is impossible to discuss trapping procedures in any detail, but certain principles apply to most situations. These are: (1)need for an understanding of the target species' habit patterns, (2) selection of a trap size and design suitable for a given situation, (3) recognition of the need for a more humane approach, (4) maintaining traps in satisfactory mechanical condition, (5) proper placement, (6) attractive bait, (7) adequate concealment, and ( a sufficient number of traps for a project.

Some credit prostitution as being the oldest profession but before the first cave dweller could pay a couple of skins for the pleasure, he had to catch the original owners. So trapping is indisputably the oldest profession known to man. There is a similarity between trapping and prostitution, however, as in both arts the amateur feels he (or she) knows more than the professional. While not qualified to speak for the professional love-peddler, I feel that in trapping, at least, the professional can produce more and give greater satisfaction than the amateur.


The first traps were probably pitfalls (Osborn, 1930). Our forebears would merely run a
herd of mastodons off a convenient cliff, but as they became more "civilized" they dug pits
and covered them with brush so that they didn't have to wait on the right set of circumstances.
Snares followed pits and are s t i l l in use today with little basic change other than the
substitution of airplane cable for human hair, which doesn't speak too highly of our
technological advance in this field. Deadfalls also remain essentially the same as those
illustrated in the early books on trapping (Gibson, 1881) or the anthropological studies of
early western cultures (Mason, 1902). Cage traps also had an early origin as a ceramic live
trap for catching mice dates back to 2500 B.C. (Anonymous, 1967). The trap that pushed the
American frontier westward was the spring trap which had to await the discovery of iron before
making its appearance. Thus, trapping has been associated with the progress of man down
through the centuries. It may not be as important in the "atomic age" and what follows as it
was in the previous ones, but it w i l l still command interest and a dedicated following.
With the realization that any classification of traps into different groups is arbitrary
because of overlapping designs, but in the interest of organizing my notes into some semblance
of order, I have attempted to categorize traps into five types:

IMPROVISED TRAPS

These are traps that utilize materials and/or physical conditions commonly present on a
given site. This group includes the most p r im i t i v e of traps—pits and deadfalls—as well as
some more sophisticated devices as the setguns. Pits were first natural ravines the animals
could be stampeded into. Later holes were dug in game trails and covered with mats of vegetation
that would collapse under an animal's weight. Variations included leaving a center
core of dirt on which bait was placed (Young and Goldman, 1944) or building a pit above ground by
driving stakes into a circle at a 45C angle leaving a small opening at the top. Dirt piled on
one side permitted wolves to scramble to the top and jump down through the opening to get at
the bait below (Grinnell, 1917). Pits in the form of camouflaged barrel tops (Gibson, 1881)
or floating corks which would drop rats to a watery death (Hogarth, 1929) were some of the
first rat traps. The principle is s t i l l used to sample field rodent populations by placing
buried cans filled with preservative at the end of drift fences (Howard and Brock, 1961).
Another type that belongs in this group as they are essentially horizontal pits are the pen
or corral traps into which hoofed animals (Taylor, 1947), jackrabbits (Palmer, 1897) and
waterfowl (Wilbur, 1967) are herded in big drives.

You can read the whole thing here ---> http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=vpcfour

ancel:

Tudor, I know this is getting ridiculous and I hope you realize that, too. Can we have a truce? 

P.S. And my name is Ancel. Not Acel. Acel has no meaning as far as I know.

What are you talking about?

PS: My name is Tud[b]ó[/b]r NOT Tudor.

I don't know what Tudor means.

Jairzinho:

You can't possibly be female. . .  .you're too much of a troublemaker(in a largely good natured way of course   ) if you ask me .

But seriously i'm female but just a hyperactive one. . . Substitute she for he, girl for guy and her for him in all my posts then you'd get an idea of who I am.

I complained because you omitted the N in my name. Who gives two scoobies about ID spellings anyway?

Tudór:

What are you talking about?

PS: My name is Tud[b]ó[/b] NOT Tudor.

I don't know what Tudor means.

@Tudór: So your name is Tudó?   Well how could I tell? I refer to people by their NL usernames and nothing else. I apologize for missing out on the accent aigue (hope I got that right) because I don't know how to insert such a character on the keyboard. But now I have copied and pasted. Satisfied? Tudór. Tudór. Tudór.

@ Topic

Hunting.

ancel:

I complained because you omitted the N in my name. Who gives two scoobies about ID spellings anyway?

Evidently you do. . . If not, why complain?

@Tudór: So your name is Tudó?   Well how could I tell? I refer to people by their NL usernames and nothing else. I apologize for missing out on the accent aigue (hope I got that right) because I don't know how to insert such a character on the keyboard. But now I have copied and pasted. Satisfied? Tudór. Tudór. Tudór.

ancel. ancel. ancel.
are you happy now?

Can someone please remind me why this topic is in Religion, and not Career or Culture? 

@Tudor Tudór : I'm happy for words but not for that reason! Thanks.

ancel:

@Tudor Tudór : I'm happy for words but not for that reason! Thanks.

Tudór:

Evidently you do. . . If not, why complain?ancel. ancel. ancel.
are you happy now?

hahahah. Love is in the air 

@Karyola: No way! Do you know this song "O my commanding wife, she wants to destroy my life?" You want me to release the remix, baa?

ancel:

@Tudor Tudór : I'm happy for words but not for that reason! Thanks.

What does this mean? *scratches her hair*

Krayola:

hahahah. Love is in the air 

how come? I'm I missing something?

Krayola:

hahahah. Love is in the air 

how come? I'm I missing something?

ancel:

Can someone please remind me why this topic is in Religion, and not Career or Culture? 

If you're not being sarcastic, the poster is arguing that according to biblical accounts (Cain and Abel), farming, not prostitution, is the world's oldest profession.

I agree with the OP. The bible indicates that Adam and Eve did some farming even before Cain and Abel. Genesis 2 shows that God caused mist to rise from the earth (most likely the oceans), and watered the plants. His motive was probably so that Adam would have something to chow once he was formed from the dust.

Also, the first instructions he ever gave to them was about what fruits to eat and what not to (tree of knowledge etc).
P.S. you people please don't derail this thread with this your luvy-duby

Tudór:

But seriously i'm female but just a hyperactive one. . . Substitute she for he, girl for guy and her for him in all my posts then you'd get an idea of who I am.

Does that mean you like to do to girls what guys do ?

@OP, I think I agree,but the origin probably has to do with anthropology. . .

^^
Oh hell NO!

Tudór:

^^
Oh hell NO!

ok. . .thank God for that.

Thank God for what? Are you homophobic?

Tudór:

Thank God for what? Are you homophobic?

Not necessarily. . . . just thinking someone as dynamic as you shouldn't be wasted with a girl