The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Language
Etymology
 crap etymology




From: "Jason R. Heimbaugh" <jrh@uiuc.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.skeptic,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: A load of crap
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 10:45:41 -0600

Colin Rosenthal wrote:
> Ok. I've read the FAQ and the stuff at cathouse, and I still don't see any
> justfication for the F against the etymology of "crap". The word "crapper"
> is still in use as a slang term for a toilet, and we have actually-extant
> toilets with the name "Crapper" embossed on them, so the derivation seems
> plausible. Has anyone actually looked in this "dictionary of slang" thing?
> Are there any citations of "crap" prior to the first Crapper toilets?

From
http://tafkac.org/misc/crapper_sir_thomas.html

Adams cites Ken Grabowski, a researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, IL) who found that Crapper (1836-1910) was indeed a sanitary engineer who started a plumbing company in 1861. While he did not actually invent the flush toilet, he did make certain improvements to its design.

From the OED:

Etymology: Cf. crap sb.[1] 7.

1 intr. To defecate. So 'crapping vbl. sb. 

         1846 [see dunny sb.[2] 1].
         1859 Hotten Slang Dict. 26 - Crapping case, a privy, or
              water-closet.
         1874 Hotten Slang Dict. 132 - Crap, to ease oneself by evacuation.
              Crapping case, or ken, the water-closet. Generally called
              crapping-castle.
         1953 A. Baron Human Kind 178 - They'd crapped on the floor, in the
              same rooms they'd slept in.

So, the term "crap" was in use when Crapper was only 10 years old and listed in a "Slang Dict." two years before Crapper founded his plumbing company. This should suffice for all non-spimby's.

Jason "cool, adding my own post to cathouse" Heimbaugh


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