History Channel: Origin of gang name, "Crips"

[Joel S. Berson]

What about the theory that the original gang was
British, known for their carrying and eating from
greasy bags of french fries as they sauntered on their criminal perambulations?

Joel

At 7/10/2010 10:42 AM, Gerald Cohen wrote:
>Wilson is too modest to mention that his information on "Crips" appeared
>formally in the Festschrift to names-scholar Ed Lawson.  We are listed as
>co-authors, but although I wrote up the article, I rely entirely on Wilson's
>material (ads-l plus follow-up information) and clarify that the substantive
>contributions are all his.
>
>The item is:
>
>Wilson Gray and Gerald Cohen: ŒOrigin of the Gang Name ³Crips.²¹
>Names (Journal of the American Name Society), vol. 55, no. 4, 2007,
>pp. 455-456.
>
>Gerald Cohen
>
>
>
>On 7/9/10 11:13 PM, "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>According to the History Channel, the true origin of the gang name,
>_Crips_, is lost to history. <har! har!> However, the HC does offer 2
>theories:
>
>1. The original Crip[ple]s walked about their territory carrying
>standard, crook-necked walking-canes (as the old blues song has it:
>"Look [...] wall / Hand me down my _walking-cane_") as their standard,
>i.e. essentially, the claim posted here by your humble correspondent
>
>2. A Korean store-owner reported to the police that the robbers were
>"the crippled boys," consonant with my claim, i.e. they probably were
>carrying their canes, causing the propritor to refer to them as
>"crippled"
>
>½. The Crips have a special way of walking, shown in the HC's doc.
>
>
>IMO, the Crip-walk is derived from the manner in which a person
>crippled in one leg walks, though they no longer carry canes.
>Naturally, that would be my opinion, given that my claim is not only
>that the Crips *carried* canes, but also that they also walked in such
>away as to mimic the walk of a genuinely-crippled man. Furthermore,
>the HC was not presenting anyone's theory, but was merely showing a
>Crip walkinng the walk. (Y'all didn't know that phrase had a referent
>in reality.)  Hence, merely "half." YMMV
>
>FWIW, 'fo' I got hip to sE, the tool was a "walking-cane." Simple
>"cane" was only a useful material normally used for making
>fishing-poles and such.
>--
>-Wilson
>­­­
>
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