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

[Wilson Gray]

Cyril M. Kornbluth: Gladiator at Law (with Frederik Pohl, _first
published as a Galaxy serial, 1954_).

>From Google. This accounts for my memory of having read this title as
a (long, admittedly) short story in a magazine and not as a book.

-Wilson


On 1/23/06, Mark A. Mandel <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Poster:       "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Query: Why "Cripples" (> "Crips") as gang-name? (fwd)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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