# Is crapulous a word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499 "2006-03-15T19:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eyesotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@eyesotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eyesotrope)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/1 "2006-03-15T19:05:20Z")
Okay, I’m having a few beers with an old friend and after we exhaust the discussion of women (which means either we a) have been there for waaay too many beers or b) are simply lazy), we start to talk (read: bitch) about work. He describes a new vendor incentive program that is pretty stupid but less crapulous than any of the other ideas on the table. At which point I stop listening to him and ask myself, “Is this really a word?” Now I readily admit that I am not the sharpest knife in the chandelier, but I’m no Trent Lott either. I’ve looked this up without success but crapulent appears to be associated with hangovers or other illnesses due to over indulgence. It was clear from the context of the discussion that he meant it as a synonym for shitty. This is a pretty funny and intelligent guy and I wouldn’t put it past him making it up. But did he? I know from long experience that if I need an answer to an arcane question, I can get it from this august group. And if this august group ignores me, pretty much any other month will do. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/2 "2006-03-15T19:08:34Z")
This should really be in General Questions, since that’s what it is. The answer is [yes](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=crapulous), crapulous is a word. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/3 "2006-03-15T19:10:09Z")
Of course. It’s a perfectly cromulent word. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/4 "2006-03-15T19:13:03Z")
Excellent swell! ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/5 "2006-03-15T19:14:41Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Of course. It’s a perfectly cromulent word. It embiggens even the smallest vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/6 "2006-03-15T19:17:44Z")
_It’s real… and it’s craptacular._ ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/7 "2006-03-15T19:44:01Z")
Man, reading the definition of that word, my entire life flashed before my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/8 "2006-03-15T20:08:20Z")
Shit, it’s really a word? Well, poopie! ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/9 "2006-03-15T20:18:19Z")
> [@eyesotrope](#): > > …Now I readily admit that I am not the sharpest knife in the chandelier, but I’m no Trent Lott either… Now, now, there’s no need to be smidgy here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![eyesotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@eyesotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eyesotrope)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/10 "2006-03-15T20:28:58Z")
I am, quite frankly, disappointed. I ask a perfectly frivolent question and I am met with complete amborience. I had expected more from such omnivoral people. Seriously though, I understand the definition of the word but have never heard it used in this context. As I’ve said, I’m no rocket surgeon but I’d like to think there may occasionally be something new under the sun. Is there? Oh, and sorry I put this in the wrong forum. I am, after all, a guest and I simply misunderestimated its placeure. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/11 "2006-03-15T20:37:04Z")
I have a uvula. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/12 "2006-03-15T20:41:41Z")
> [@eyesotrope](#): > > _snip_ Seriously though, I understand the definition of the word but have never heard it used in this context. _snip_ Maybe you haven’t heard it _yet_, but now that I know it, I plan on using it liberally, especially since Friday is St. Patty’s Day. So, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/13 "2006-03-15T23:36:22Z")
This is so unfair! I was going to come in here all proud of myself because I actually learned this word last week cuz it was the [word of the day](http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2006/03/11.html) at [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com). Of course, multiple people beat me to the definition… GT ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/14 "2006-03-16T00:16:30Z")
> [@eyesotrope](#): > > Okay, I’m having a few beers with an old friend and after we exhaust the discussion of women (which means either we a) have been there for waaay too many beers or b) are simply lazy), we start to talk (read: bitch) about work. He describes a new vendor incentive program that is pretty stupid but less crapulous than any of the other ideas on the table. > > At which point I stop listening to him and ask myself, “Is this really a word?” > > Now I readily admit that I am not the sharpest knife in the chandelier, but I’m no Trent Lott either. I’ve looked this up without success but crapulent appears to be associated with hangovers or other illnesses due to over indulgence. It was clear from the context of the discussion that he meant it as a synonym for shitty. This is a pretty funny and intelligent guy and I wouldn’t put it past him making it up. But did he? > > I know from long experience that if I need an answer to an arcane question, I can get it from this august group. And if this august group ignores me, pretty much any other month will do. spe"crap"ular? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/15 "2006-03-16T00:47:57Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I have a uvula. But do you know how to use it? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/16 "2006-03-16T02:55:15Z")
Did a Google Usenet search. The earliest appearance is March 15, 1999, which is kind of spooky. So it is a very recent coinage. Hardly of the same pedigree as “thither”. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/17 "2006-03-16T03:27:24Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Did a Google Usenet search. The earliest appearance is March 15, 1999, which is kind of spooky. > > So it is a very recent coinage. Hardly of the same pedigree as “thither”. Are you referring to _crapulous_? A search on [Reference.com](http://Reference.com) [lists definitions from references that have copyrights in the mid-1990s.](http://www.reference.com/search?db=web&q=crapulous). The [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=crapulous&searchmode=none) dates it at 1536. GT 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/18 "2006-03-16T04:06:55Z")
Earliest usage of crapulous, meaning grossly intemperate, is certainly not 1999. Earliest usage to mean poopy may well be by the OP’s friend. It’s in Kipling’s short story “The Bonds of Discipline”, c 1903, in _Traffics and Discoveries_. It is used in a report by a French spy on the disciplinary deficiencies of HMS Archimandrite, from which Kipling (in a bar) is doing a flying translation to a petty officer Mr. Pyecroft (ex-Archimandrite), for the purpose of seeing what kind of verification he can get. Kipling reading; the voice is the French spy’s. [Snip]\*‘Overborne by his superior’s causeless suspicion, the Navigator took off the badges of his rank and cast them at the feet of my captain and sobbed. A disgusting and maudlin reconciliation followed. The argument renewed itself, each grasping the wheel, crapulous’ \* (that means drunk, I think, Mr. Pyecroft), _shouting. It appeared that my captain would chenaler’_ (I don’t know what that means, Mr. Pyecroft) _to the Cape. At the end, he placed a sailor with the sound’_ (that’s the lead, I think) _‘in his hand, garnished with suet…at two thousand metres of profundity. Decidedly the Britannic Navy is well guarded.’_ gardentraveler’s [reference](http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2006/03/11.html) gives derivation back to the Greek. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/19 "2006-03-16T16:02:04Z")
Crapulous, Inc.: a subsidiary of Crapulent Industries. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499/20 "2006-03-16T16:49:56Z")
Has anyone used this word? it is much nicer than "crapulous’, and I’d like to revive its use-seems like too nice a word to be abandoned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-crapulous-a-word/348499.md?page=2)