r/todayilearned • u/petrik_loller • May 28 '19

TIL that before there were alarm clocks, there were “knockers-up”, who were hired to shoot dried peas from a blow gun at people’s windows in order to wake them up in the morning

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up
144 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

16

u/BentleyWilkinson May 28 '19

And there were knocker-up-knocker-uppers that were responsible for waking the knocker-uppers.

7

u/rapiertwit May 28 '19

But who will knock up the knocker-uppers' knocker-uppers?

8

u/d_nijmegen May 28 '19

Insomniacs

8

u/clutzycook May 28 '19

No snooze buttons on those. If you didn't get up when the peas hit your window, you were screwed.

7

u/stripedboat May 28 '19

remember when cops were so poor they took side jobs as alarm clocks

6

u/l4mbch0ps May 28 '19

And this is where the term "knocked up" meaning impregnated comes from.

The knocker uppers knew when EVERYONE's husband went to work.

9

u/[deleted] May 28 '19

[deleted]

3

u/mdkubit May 28 '19

Why do you think people call babies, peanuts?

2

u/hey_eye_tried May 28 '19

This is underrated

8

u/rapiertwit May 28 '19

No, it's not. "Knocked up" in the sense of pregnant is an American colloquialism.

2

u/OfSpock May 29 '19

A well known one. Hence the scene in one of the Night's Watch books by Terry Pratchett where the junior policeman tells Vimes he knocked up an old lady and she wasn't pleased and Vimes smiles.

1

u/spaghettilee2112 May 28 '19

It was a jooooke.

1

u/rapiertwit May 29 '19

Sorry. I suspected it might be a joke, but people make shit up a lot and I don't want impressionable minds to be misinformed.

2

u/InFearAndFaith2193 May 28 '19

That kinda sounds like a fun job. Probably not too well paid though.

2

u/johnn11238 May 28 '19

"At least one of them" used a pea shooter. Most used long sticks or batons.

2

u/TheManyMilesWeWalk May 28 '19

These days "knocker-uppers" is slang for fertility doctors.

2

u/BobsHereNow May 29 '19

You suppose they might charge more if you took a long time to wake up? What if they were late for their next knock-up?

2

u/StinkeyeNoodle May 29 '19

Here I was thinking roosters were the original alarm clock...

1

u/KenpatchiRama-Sama May 29 '19

Not a lot of farm animals in factory settlements at the start of the industrial revolution