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A knacker is a person in the trade of rendering animals that are unfit for human consumption, such as horses that can no longer work.^[1] This leads to the slang expression "knackered" meaning very tired, or "ready for the knacker’s yard", where old horses are slaughtered and made into dog food and glue. A knacker's yard or knackery is different from a slaughterhouse, where animals are slaughtered for human consumption.

However, in modern usage - especially in Ireland, the word has come to describe both those from lower-class backgrounds who tend to engage in anti-social behaviour, as well as those of an Irish Traveller background. In this sense, the usage of the word knacker is akin to the usage of the term chav in England and ned in Scotland.

Use of term [link]

The term is in this literal sense in British English and Irish English, and gained some notoriety during the outbreak of mad cow disease (BSE) in the United Kingdom. The Slaughterhouses Act 1974, the Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations 1982 and the Food Act 1984 all have a definition of a 'knacker's yard' as "any premises used in connection with the business of slaughtering, skinning or cutting up animals whose flesh is not intended for human consumption".

The remains are often used for dog food products or certain fertilizers. The kinds of animal processing which can occur at knackeries are defined by law, for example, in Australia by the Commonwealth Meat Inspection Act 1983.^[2] The trade of collecting and rendering is by its nature unpleasant and pungent. The trade and those who practice it are considered to be repellent in many societies, resulting in a social separation. This is so not only in Ireland or Britain, but also, for example, in Japan, where it is performed by burakumin, and India, where it is performed by dalits. This simultaneously reduces the number of people willing to enter the trade, and the average income of those who do.

The term, "Knacker's" is used in the George Orwell's book, Animal Farm, published in 1945. Boxer, the workhorse on the farm, becomes old and is sent to the Knacker's to be turned into glue.

Slang [link]

"Knackered" meaning tired, exhausted or broken in British and Irish slang is commonly used in Australia, Ireland, Newfoundland and the United Kingdom. "Knackers" is also British/Australasian slang for testicles.^[3]

The term "knacker" is sometimes used in Ireland to denote an Irish Traveller. In 1960, senior politician James Dillon explained the term to the Irish parliament as denoting "the tough type of itinerant tinker".^[4] The use of the word is considered pejorative. It is now more often used to refer to people of a perceived lower class or underclass, who are not Travellers, but who have accents, attitudes and a style of dressing redolent of anti-social behaviour, petty crime, poor public housing and low educational achievement levels.^{[citation needed]}

The British satirical magazine Private Eye often refers to senior police figures as "Inspector Knacker" or the police force in general as "Knacker of The Yard", a reference to Jack "Slipper of the Yard" Slipper.

References [link]

1. ^ What is a Knackerman knackerman.com, undated (accessed 18 February 2007)
2. ^ Meat Inspection Act 1983 (Cth)
3. ^ e.g. Thomas in The Virgin Soldiers
4. ^ "Dáil Éireann - Volume 183 - 29 June, 1960" (in English). Dáil Éireann. 29-06-1960. https://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0183/D.0183.196006290006.html. Retrieved 6 December 2011.