In message , Pat Reynolds <[log in to unmask]> writes
>The OED points out that Colliers were makers and marketers of charcoal
>before they were minders of coal.  (c1350 for the first use, 1594 for
>the latter).
Oops.  There's a profession you don't see much nowadays, coal-minding!
It was a specialised kind of night-watchman, particularly used by the
railways (see E. Nesbit's "The Railway Children").

Of course, what my post should have said was "... before they were
miners of coal".

Sorry for the mistake!
--
Pat Reynolds
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   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Pratchett)