# "Crap" no longer means "feces" to me. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013 "2005-03-30T23:16:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/1 "2005-03-30T23:16:33Z")
Last night I was talking to a friend who was explaining some diet or process or whatever, I wasn’t really paying attention, anyway the point was she was doing this to “cleanse” her system. She mentioned how good it feels to have “all the crap just washed out of you”, then she giggled and said “no pun intended”. When she said “no pun intended”, it actually took me a split second to realize what she was referring to. It was then that I became aware that “crap” no longer means “feces” to me. It just means “crap”. Y’know, stuff you don’t want or don’t care about or don’t like or don’t know why it’s there in your way and junk. “Shit” can still mean “feces” to my mind, but it also means a whole lot of other shit. But “crap” just means “crap”, it no longer means “feces”- not to me anyway. So, a poll, does “crap” mean “feces” to you? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/2 "2005-03-30T23:25:34Z")
It does to me, mostly, but I think it’s because I have two little word-sponges hanging around with me much of the time, and I have to watch my language. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/3 "2005-03-30T23:38:50Z")
Hmmmm…While I fully see your point, **bienville** , when I say “I gotta go take a crap”, I’m not talking about cleaning out the garage or anything. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/4 "2005-03-30T23:44:22Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > when I say “I gotta go take a crap”, I’m not talking about cleaning out the garage or anything. Ooh, that’s good. I hadn’t really thought of just how frequently that phrase is used- it’s actually a phrase that I myself don’t use at all. But, yes, if someone were to say to me “I gotta go take a crap” I would know exactly what they meant. Even though they wouldn’t actually be “taking it” but rather expelling it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/5 "2005-03-31T00:34:58Z")
Crap still means feces, although secondarily, to me. But “this sucks!” no longer suggests oral sex to me unless it’s intentional. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/6 "2005-03-31T00:49:18Z")
“Crap” has never meant (exclusively) “feces” to me. It’s always been junk, garbage, sludge, unwanted detritus… ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/7 "2005-03-31T03:14:56Z")
> [@](#): > > ``` > "Crap" has never meant (exclusively) "feces" to me. It's always been junk, garbage, sludge, unwanted detritus... > > ``` Which, interestingly, is its original meaning. From the [url=http://www.etymonline.com/]Online Etymology Dictionary [/quote] : > [@](#): > > (n.), from one of a cluster of words generally applied to things cast off or discarded (e.g. “weeds growing among corn” (1425), “residue from renderings” (1490s), 18c. underworld slang for “money,” and in Shropshire, “dregs of beer or ale”), all probably from M.E. crappe “grain that was trodden underfoot in a barn, chaff” (c.1440), from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). crape “siftings,” from [O.Fr](http://O.Fr). crappe, from M.L. crappa, crapinum “chaff.” ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crap-no-longer-means-feces-to-me/297013/8 "2005-03-31T03:22:50Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > Which, interestingly, is its original meaning. From the [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/): Though the specific reason for crap coming to be related to feces might have something to do with Mr. Crapper (the toilet guy.) [Cite.](http://www.takeourword.com/TOW152/page2.html)