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Comment by jareklupinski | original | Handwritten 200-year-old dismissal notice found on roof tile
[−]jareklupinski · 2026-11-15 Sun 10:31 UTC · link
> Once the inscription had been made, the clay was fired to create a finished roof tile and was then put to its intended use.

fun fact: this is the origin of being 'let go' coming to be known as "getting fired"

[−]yorwba · 2026-11-15 Sun 10:39 UTC · link
Etymonline disagrees: https://www.etymonline.com/word/fire
[−]jareklupinski · 2026-11-15 Sun 11:06 UTC · link
it seems to agree haha:

> The sense of "sack, dismiss from employment" is recorded by 1877 (with out; 1879 alone) in American English.

> Research had found a firm called Thomas Austin Brick & Tile Makers, based at Clay Hills, Stoke-on-Trent in 1820

[−]yorwba · 2026-11-15 Sun 11:23 UTC · link
Thomas Austin in 1820 "discharged" the employee. And Stoke-on-Trent is in Britain.
[−]jareklupinski · 2026-11-15 Sun 11:27 UTC · link
its a long way across the pond, and you know how stories go when they travel :)
[−]layer8 · 2026-11-15 Sun 11:37 UTC · link
Maybe he was really an electrician.
[−]gpvos · 2026-11-15 Sun 12:58 UTC · link
Probably the first one then, electricity was still in the research stage at that time.
[−]smelendez · 2026-11-15 Sun 13:24 UTC · link
The parent comment was a pun on discharge but incidentally Ben Franklin is often called the first electrician and credited with coining the term.