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A comment on The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming.

Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by someperson on Sunday April 25, 2021 @12:03PM (#26933740)
The term "knackered" (British slang for tired or exhausted) may have derived from the term "knacker" (a slang term meaning "to kill," but also "to tire, exhaust, or wear out." [1]) And the origin of the term "knack" itself is "probably related to obsolete knack ‘sharp blow or sound’, of imitative origin (compare with Dutch knak ‘crack, snap’)" [2]

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knackered

[2] Google's Oxford Languages' etymology

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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by morsch on Sunday April 25, 2021 @12:56PM (#26934243)
On a sidenote, many speakers of English probably are unfamiliar with the pronunciation of Dutch knakken or German Knacker (ˈknakɐ, you can listen to Google Translate's rather mediocre rendition[1]). Kn in word-initial position is fairly common, and the k is not silent in these languages, nor is there an aspiration between k and n.

[1] https://translate.google.com/?sl=de&tl=en&text=Knacker%0A&op...

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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by domano on Sunday April 25, 2021 @12:18PM (#26933885)
"Knacker" is a somewhat oldish word for "old guy" in german - maybe related? Also comes from the word "knack" with the same meaning as in dutch.
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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by secondcoming on Sunday April 25, 2021 @12:30PM (#26933997)
It's also a very derogatory word in Ireland for a member of the travelling/gypsy community.
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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by celticninja on Sunday April 25, 2021 @12:40PM (#26934081)
Who also used to be the knackermen back in the day, hence they became knows as the 'knackers'.
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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by pbhjpbhj on Sunday April 25, 2021 @02:31PM (#26935234)
"Knackers yard" was a place to take horses for disposal, AIUI, and we'd - by extension - call a scrapyard (for cars) "the knackers yard".
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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by distributedsean on Sunday April 25, 2021 @05:04PM (#26936673)
We also use knackers and knackers yard in Ireland to refer to people who dispose of dead farm animals.
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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by ruph123 on Sunday April 25, 2021 @03:06PM (#26935586)
And “Knacker” is also a sausage because it “knacks” when you break it in half. Knack in German has the meaning snap or crack.
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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by lostlogin on Sunday April 25, 2021 @05:04PM (#26936664)
I’m glad you added the origin - sausages made from old or diseased animals don’t sound great.
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Re:The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming by hutzlibu on Monday April 26, 2021 @01:12AM (#26939423)
"sausages made from old or diseased animals don’t sound great."

But that's what they were made of originally - and still are in areas with bad overwatch.

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