Let's have a game of mental image. Plumber. What image popped into your mind? Kenny would have to be close. Policeman. Gruff? Woman teacher. Assertiveness? Solicitor. Tediously precise? Real estate agent. Cheery? Hard sell? Expensive car? Artist. Scruffy?
In my column in The Herald today I write about the way many occupations define the person, and a plumber, a police officer and a judge are right up there. A plumber is always the plumber, never just a plumber, a judge is the judge even when he or she is in company with judges, and a police officer is always the copper.
It begins early when as children we're asked what we want to be when we grow up, and so many people do seem to become what they do for a living. Many occupations present their practitioners in a common light.
It's to be expected, and it is well established, that occupations tend to attract people of similar interests and personality and, perhaps, background. Still, do coppers become gruff or do gruff people become coppers?
Are you defined by your occupation? How do you define others by their occupation?
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