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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!nsc!csi!epicen!jbuck
From: jbuck@epicen.UUCP (Joe Buck)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: origin of "crap"
Message-ID: <283@epicen.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Dec-85 02:45:44 EST
Article-I.D.: epicen.283
Posted: Wed Dec  4 02:45:44 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Dec-85 07:49:59 EST
References: <521@klipper.UUCP> <76@nbs-amrf.UUCP> <331@steinmetz.UUCP> <767@rtech.UUCP> <829@ecsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: jbuck@epicen.UUCP (Joe Buck)
Followup-To: net.nlang
Organization: Entropic Processing, Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 29
Summary: Another wrong answer in Trivial Pursuit. Not an acronym either

In article <829@ecsvax.UUCP> dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady) writes:
>In article <767@rtech.UUCP> jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) writes:
>>Someone once wrote a book called "Flushed With Pride", which claimed that the
>>inventor of the flush toilet was a man named "Thomas Crapper", and that the
>>word "crap" was derived from his name.  Although the book was a hoax . . .
>
>You'd think _Flushed with Pride_ would *have* to be a hoax, but...  I
>keep hearing otherwise!  I have even seen it claimed that Crapper
>received a patent, and that the company he founded still exists.  Does
>anyone have any solid (pardon the expression) evidence one way or the
>other?  I've been wondering about this for a long time.

Others have already given references to dictionaries explaining the hoax.
The reason you've been hearing it a lot lately is because it's one of
dozens of wrong answers in the game "Trivial Pursuit". The game also has
questions with no right answer, such as "Where does the atmosphere end
and space begin, within twenty miles" (they say the answer is 120).

I can also assure you that it's not an acronym, and neither is "f**k".
Acronyms are a very modern invention, and not likely to be invented by
people who can't read, write, or spell. The lower classes, not the aristocracy,
used words like crap and f**k.

I'm adding net.nlang and directing followups there. That's the group
where they endlessly debate the origin of "OK" and such things.
-- 
Joe Buck				|  Entropic Processing, Inc.
UUCP: {ucbvax,ihnp4}!dual!epicen!jbuck  |  10011 N. Foothill Blvd.
ARPA: dual!epicen!jbuck@BERKELEY.ARPA   |  Cupertino, CA 95014