The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #142261   Message #3278078
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
21-Dec-11 - 10:04 PM
Thread Name: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
Not a perjorative use, but interesting. These from the OED.
Crutch- a mallet-shaped instrument used to push sheep into the dip. Australian, 1916.
But "crutch" also the name of the hot water tank with the three successive dips-, insuring that the sheep are "well-crutched." 1886, Australian.

I will search some more tomorrow, but I seem to recall that crutch in a perjorative sense is old.