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- "Crappy" redirects here. For the species of fish, see Crappie. For other uses, see Crap (disambiguation).
Crap is a slang word meaning literally 'faeces', and is mostly used to mean either this, or alternatively, 'of low quality' . The latter meaning is sometimes considered mildly vulgar whereas the former meaning is often considered mildly or moderately vulgar, but could be, on occasion, viewed as strongly vulgar by means of scatological and sensory-provoking use of the word.
In its latter meaning it also connotes inaccurate, of little factual substance, lies, hype, or quackery.
The word is used nearly interchangeably with "shit" and considered by many people to be the less offensive of the two. Still, some people find the word crap offensive, even if not intended to mean feces, and will use the minced oath "crud" instead.
Etymology
The word "crap" is old in the English language, one of a group of nouns applied to discarded cast offs, like "residue from renderings" (1490s) or in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale", meanings probably extended from Middle English crappe "chaff, or grain that has been trodden underfoot in a barn" (c. 1440), deriving ultimately from Late Latin crappa, "chaff".
The word fell out of use in Britain by the 1600s, but remained prevalent in the North American colonies which would eventually become the United States. The meaning "to defecate" was recorded in the U.S. since 1846 (according to Oxford and Merriam-Webster), but the word did not hold this meaning at all in Victorian England.
The connection to Thomas Crapper is conjectured by Hart-Davis to be an unfortunate coincidence of his surname. The occupational name Crapper is a variant spelling of Cropper. In the US, the word crapper is a dysphemism for "toilet". The term first appeared in print in the 1930s. It has been suggested that US soldiers stationed in England during World War I (some of whom had little experience with indoor plumbing) saw many toilets printed with "T. Crapper" in the glaze and brought the word home as a synonym for "toilet" — a sort of back-formation from "crap." This suggestion, however, overlooks the fact that "crapper" was a well-established word long before that time.
Yet another purported explanation is that Thomas Crapper's flush toilet advertising was so widespread, and the business name "T. Crapper & Sons, Chelsea," was seen on so many toilets, that "crapper" became a synonym for "toilet" and people simply assumed that he was the inventor.
Despite the word usually taking the form of either a noun or verb, some people (usually speakers from Commonwealth countries) use crap interchangeably with its adjective form crappy. For example, "My computer has a really crap video card," or "I'm crap at this."
The word "crappit" is also a replacement for damnit, as kids today have altered the word "crap" somewhat. People sometimes use the word "crap" instead of shit.
See also
References
- "Crap-Definitions from Dictionary.com". Dictionary.com. 2005. Retrieved 2007-2-11.
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