trowel fodder
n.— «While many of the technical aspects of archaeology can be learnt in a classroom, there is no substitute for practical experience. If you are really committed to the subject many excavations will offer places to what are commonly known as “trowel fodder”—people who do all the messy, boring jobs such as digging trenches, pushing wheel barrows and standing around all day in the pouring rain holding surveying poles. It might not be glamorous, but it will give you an invaluable grounding in the basic skills of field archaeology.» —“Shortcuts: How to make it as an archaeologist” by Paul Sussman CNN Dec. 11, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten...