ArticlesHere’s a puzzle I have been pondering:
Which occupation is the most under-represented on television?
Clearly some occupations are over-represented on television compared to their numbers in the community: Police officers, medical doctors, lawyers, soldiers, politicians, etc. If your occupation can combine two or three of the above, you are also well–represented.
But which occupation most needs an publicity agent? Which job is the most common in real life, and yet just doesn’t get any airtime?
Any appearance on television counts, including fact-based shows, fiction-based shows and advertising (if you can still tell the difference between these categories). Approximate matches count: For example, a TV show containing high-school English teachers should be considered to cover primary-school English teachers, too.
This thought initially came to me as I pondered that I know a handful of linguists (who I have met independently of their work) but I have never seen one on TV. I have heard reports that there was one being interviewed on the local news recently, though.
Comment by Alastair on September 8, 2005
A TV show about linguists? How cunning! (sorry)
Umm, how about builders? There’s lots of them and you hardly ever see them on TV (except for Xander in Buffy).
Sales Reps? Shopkeepers? The Unemployed?
Comment by Julian on September 8, 2005
Alastair,
So you should be!
Bob the Builder. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Bit roles in adverts. I agree, they may well be under-represented because of the sheer numbers.
Cadillac Men. Lots of adverts.
Open All Hours. Clerks. Does Mr Hooper in Sesame Street still count?
Your strategy is a good one. Go for the occupations (I’ll count “unemployed” here) that are so popular in real-life that they are under-represented on TV.
However, If someone can come up with an occupation that rarer than “unemployed” (but still popular enough known for people to accept it as a valid occupation) and that occupation never appears on TV, who should get the prize?
One suggestion I received: actuaries. Ever seen one on TV?
Comment by Julian on September 13, 2005
Here’s a bit of a head-start for the people playing at home. The (US) National Science Foundation has a publication called the Science and Engineering Indicators 2002. While it is quite dated, it contains an relevant figure: