Query: Why "Cripples" (> "Crips") as gang-name? (fwd)

Mark A. Mandel mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU
Mon Jan 23 17:16:09 UTC 2006


Gerald quotes Wilson Gray:
>>>

    Back inthe '50's, around the time of "The Blackboard Jungle," I read a
short story about a gang whose battle cry was, "Wa-wa-wabbit twacks!" The
concept of being threatening by being ostensibly unthreatening is not a new
one.

<<<

I don't know whether it's the same story, but the period is right. I
remember this gang and their battle cry (though not their name) from
GLADIATOR AT LAW, a classic sf novel by Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth
published in 1955. They fought with broken bottles, which are no mean melee
weapon.

m a m
http://www.cracksandshards.com

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