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This paper focuses on the work of a large segment of workers in Brazil. These workers are commonly marginalized. Most of them earn their income through “under the table” jobs that are not regulated by the state. Their employment is therefore unstable. After concluding that the term “informal work” is widely used to refer to such situations, this paper reviews texts that locate the historicity of the term and suggest its use is problematic. Lastly, this paper demonstrates that by shifting the analysis toward everyday life, we can apprehend the singularity and the real working conditions in jobs that João do Rio referred to as “forgotten professions.”