This isn’t exactly a writing prompt, but it’s…something.
In the 1800s, London’s sewer system wasn’t exactly sophisticated. Body waste accumulated in cesspools or was dumped in the Thames. Lucky citizens had an outdoor privy with a hole beneath it, while others emptied their waste into a basement cesspool. Waste would seep into the ground water reserve or might gather in watery pools on the soil surface. In many cases, cesspools were never emptied, due to cost.
Enter the Night Soil Men. God love the British euphemism.
Because the excretions were gathered at night and could possibly be used as fertilizer, the men who came to clean the pools became known as night soil men. A grotesque but necessary job. You can imagine both the unpleasant nature of the task and its dangers (cesspools weren’t shallow…)
Your job is to create other possible euphemisms to describe unpleasant jobs for your SF or fantasy setting. Consider your story world’s taboos and what topics your society might avoid and why, then come up with names for tasks and professions that would disguise the nature of that job.
