Yellow stomachs knife grinders laid down to do their job and save their backs from hunching over all day Their dogs were encouraged to join them to keep their legs warm Pic from the early 1900s

Added on November 1st, 2021 by y0urwifesb0yfriend | Report Post
Tags:Black and White, WTF

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kangxi (#255071)

4 years ago

What an odd but somehow likeable story. But what’s a “yellow stomach” knife grinder?

Old Tofu (#179650)

Reply to kangxi

4 years ago

Knife grinders, aka “Yellow Bellies” [c.1900] They are called so because of the yellow dust from grinding while they lie on their stomachs to protect their backs.

kangxi (#255071)

Reply to Old Tofu

4 years ago

Thanks. I am enlightened. I remember in post-war Britain when the itinerant knife grinder, trundling a barrow with a rotating stone like a fly wheel operated via a foot pedal, plied his trade around the streets of my home town. AFAICR his belly was no particular colour, but I was only 3 or 4 at the time. All those itinerant tradesmen (including the rag-and-bone man, the chimney sweep and the tinker) have long gone but I can remember their cries.