When it comes to working in America, some jobs are more prestigious than others. According to a recent poll done by Harris Interactive, fireman and scientist are viewed as the most prestigious professions. Nearly six in ten Americans rate those occupations as holding "very great prestige." Stockbroker stands as the job with the least prestige, with only eight percent of Americans claiming the job has very great prestige.

This is hard to believe. The survey data is from 2005, which might be part of it, but I wonder if the people polled really understood what the word 'prestige' means. This looks more like a ranking of occupations that Americans believe are "very important."

I love the semantic question smangat raises. Prestige could mean respect, honor, standing, importance. Certainly teachers, police, doctors, clergy and scientists have all been under varying levels of scrutiny and public criticism over the last handful of years. Could be their prestige has dropped significantly since 05.