The English idiom world's second oldest profession is used to refer to a number of professions, playing on the common comment that prostitution is the world's oldest profession. One frequent use of the phrase is to refer to spies and spying. An explanation of this phrase is that it must be the second oldest profession because it is mentioned in the Book of Joshua.
"Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly with orders to reconnoitre the country. The two men came to Jericho and went to the house of a prostitute named Rahab..."Paul Reynolds, a writer with the BBC, noted: "Rahab, of course, was engaged in the oldest profession."
Ronald Reagan nominated politician as the second-oldest profession with the alleged quip, "Someone once said that politics is the second oldest profession. I'm beginning to think it bears resemblance to the first."
According to the World Almanac website, nominations for the second oldest profession include: actors, casino gambling, con men, counterfeiting, gigolos, glassmaking, interpreters, journalism, moving companies, pharmacists, pickpocketing, pimpery, piracy, press agents, prostitutes, spying, and quackery.
Other writers write about other professions as the world's second oldest profession without stating why they should be considered the second oldest profession.