disameliorative effect of euphemisms

[Gregory {Greg} Downing]

At 08:53 AM 2/28/2001 -0800, James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>Maybe not for crap, but for crapper = toilet.
>

What's the actual evidence for this as the true derivation? I'd be happy to
learn more! "Crap" has had its negative sense for centuries, the suffix -er
is common enough, and the earliest assertion of the "Thomas Crapper --->
crapper" etymology that I've seen is from the Tamony papers, 1972, as cited
by HDAS under "crapper." Meanwhile, "it is assumed that..." is what Tamony
says about the Crapper/crapper connection. Does anyone know offhand what's
in the two articles cited in the etymological note at the top of the HDAS
entry for "crap"?

With regard to the topic of the current thread, the personal name Crapper
was never a common noun, and the common noun "crapper" never had a
non-pejorative meaning.


Greg Downing, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at nyu.edu