BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 05:13 PM

Wait a minute-- methinks the clue as to pejoration is in the tone of VOICE the people use. Not the word-- the other 75% of the communication.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: CapriUni
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 04:40 PM

Rap -- re: responding to boors --

I have an online store, where I share my disability and writing-related swag: Chimer(i)gons, and I'm thinking of adding this slogan:

"I have a shin-whacking Clue Stick. ...Don't make me use it!"

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 02:25 PM

i like 'jockstrap' and the next time i need to i use my walking stick as a cane [due to knee surgery oct. 5] i'm going to call it that. we need don firth to weigh in on this, and art thieme as well.

as for those boorish enough to ask that, capriuno, i have a friend of many years who suffers from post-polio. she was asked the same thing and replied, 'why yes, i have! and you know, i fell down.' the boor was nonplussed, to say the least, and departed rather quickly for elsewhere.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 02:00 PM

Hmmm...I decided to look up synonyms for "Crutch" and found the following. I rather like "swagger stick!"

        
Malacca cane, V, advocate, alpenstock, arm, athletic supporter, back, backbone, backing, bandeau, baton, bearer, bra, brace, bracer, bracket, branch, brassiere, buttress, cane, carrier, cervix, corset, crook, crosier, cross-staff, cross, crotch, crutch-stick, delta, fan, fork, foundation garment, fulcrum, furcula, furculum, girdle, groin, guy, guywire, handstaff, inguen, jock, jockstrap, lituus, mainstay, maintainer, mast, neck, offshoot, pastoral staff, paterissa, prong, prop, quarterstaff, ramification, reinforce, reinforcement, reinforcer, rest, resting place, rigging, shillelagh, shoulder, shroud, spine, sprit, staff, standing rigging, stave, stay, stem, stick, stiffener, strengthener, support, supporter, sustainer, swagger stick, swanking stick, trident, upholder, walking stick, wishbone

As we watched an Australian tv series called McCleod's Daughters, which takes place on a farm with lots of sheep, they often spoke of crutching them, but we thought it was their version of "crotch" as it only ever showed them shearing around that area on their bodies whenever it was mentioned.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:26 PM

CapriUni, I agree with you. 'Crutch' is now firmly ensconced as psychobabble.

I can't remember the title, but I recently read the autobiography of an autistic boy about 18 or 19. His mother sounded like a cold and demanding person. It seemed that every time his teachers suggested something that would help him, that she rejected it as a 'crutch.'

I translated that as "not good enough for me. I want him to be perfect."

For example, he didn't say his first word till age 7 (IIRC), yet she refused to let him learn Sign, because that was 'a crutch.' When I think of that poor kid being kept from communicating, it makes me so mad. Later I saw a video of him, and his speech was still so unclear at 18 that he could have benefited from Sign.
======
So how do we deal with "crutch"? Call it by its real name -- ("Please spare me the psychobabble. We have a problem here that needs solving.") -- and it will shrivel up and disappear.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: CapriUni
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:04 PM

*Sigh* Okay, taking this from the top, with a little more context as to my intent of playing with the language:

I am not saying that the word "crutch" itself, is pejorative -- far from it. But, as I wrote in the title of this thread, I intended to talk about the use of the word "crutch" in a pejorative context, as part of a metaphor or an idiom.

The fact is that "crutch" comes up more often in metaphors, idioms, and expressions than it does in actual conversations about the literal use and of real crutches. It's a word that's used, over and over, for something vaguely bad and morally weak (as it was in the example that popped up by serendipity on my TV, last night: "I could go for the 'Holiday Angle,' but that's just a crutch. And I'm a better salesman than that.).

Over time, that negative association leaks over into the real world and shapes people's attitudes toward real people. That's a big part of how bigotry works -- as with the woman Wysiwig was talking to, and her attitude toward needing a scooter, and how the lady thought it was bad, and that she would be morally questionable for using one, because her friends told her it was a 'crutch.'

Meanwhile, "ladders" are also used as metaphors and idioms, but with that word, the association is nearly always positive (when we speak of someone climbing the "corporate ladder," for example, we often admire their ambition, cleverness, and energy -- whereas, when we talk about someone using a crutch, it's most often to imply that they are lazy. And ladders also appear in religious symbolism as a way for mere Man to get closer to God.

Now, a bit of how jokes work (which is something I learned a long time ago, when I took a college course on the literature of humor): The human mind can only think along one line of logic at a time (we can look up a book in the library either by author's name or by subject, but not simultaneously). The body of a joke leads the audience's mind down one line of logic, and then, just when their on the edge of their metaphorical seats, the "punch"line comes in from a completely different direction, and forces us to look at the situation with a completely different logical framework. The resulting release of emotional tension comes out (one hopes) as a burst of laughter.

My suggestion to refer to crutches as "hand ladders" is meant, in this way, to be a joke: to cause people to stop and blink, and to reassess their assumptions about the value of crutches, and the people who use them, and to maybe, I hope, start to think of crutches in the same symbolic light as ladders.

(oh, and by the way: I have cerebral palsy and have used crutches all my life, and yes, I have had people ask me "But have you even tried to walk without them?")

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 10:58 AM

This thread recalls an old Ottawa Valley expression, long out of fashion: Such and such really un-funny thing is "about as funny as a crutch."

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 10:45 AM

i think kat's lady should do what she needs to do and run over the toes of them other folks...the busy-bodies!

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 07:33 AM

It's a fucking crutch for christ's sake.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 07:20 AM

I would suggest that the use of the word crutch in the OP's use of the item, is being erroneously defined as a word solely for that application.
In that it is a support, it is correctly named, however,there it is designed not as a support, but as a walking aid. Surely it would be better to call it just that, a walking aid.
Then the word crutch could return to it's original use, i.e. a support.
I know the physioterrorists (sic) at my local hospital, always refer to them as walking aids.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 06:21 AM

I honestly think that most people see crutches as something very useful when needed, but to be dispensed with if possible. "Hand ladder" just sounds confusing , because that's not how ladders are used. You might as well call a seat a bum ladder, because that provides support as well.

An aid that does tend to get used in a somewhat insulting way is "zimmer frame".

Of course the word crutch is cognate with the word cross - another kind of support entirely.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 05:32 AM

I throw this into the mix

"The term crotch (or crutch) may be used to describe the region of an object (a trunk) where it splits into two or more limbs. This can include trees, animals, buildings, in wiring diagrams, etc.

In humans, the crotch is loosely defined as the bottom of the pelvis, the region of the body where the legs join the torso, and is sometimes considered to include the groin and genitals.

In clothing, the crotch is the area of a pair of trousers (pants) or shorts where the legs join together. The bottom of the crotch defines one end of the inseam."

*********************************************************************

"The Crutched Friars or Crossed Friars were a Roman Catholic religious order of Augustinian canons who went to England in the 13th century from Italy, where they existed for some time, and where they were called Fratres Cruciferi."

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 10:49 PM

A crutch is nothing more or less than a support. Perjorative doesn't necessarily apply.
Appeared as far back as 900 in old English. Many uses. A few quotes from the OED-
Crutch- c. a prop, a support.
1602 Your favour will give crutches to our faults.
1772 The hunters fix their crutches in the ground
17th c. A forked rest for the foot in a side saddle.
1861 Old crippled buildings, propped up with posts and logs.
1682 (Dryden) Two fools that crutch their feeble sense on verse.
1890 This feeble government, crutched.....


crutch as a verb in print in 1681.

What is a "real" crutch"? Modern equivalents of the staff are the "walker," the stick with four terminations, the frame with four terminations, etc.

I will admit that the image first to mind is a forked stick.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: CapriUni
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 10:19 PM

Yes, but Bill, when "crutch" is continually referred to as a bad thing, an unnecessary and lazy thing, those attitudes get transferred on to the real crutches, and the real people who really need them when there is a medical need.

Q.V. the anecdote Wysiwig shared.

The author of the article that I linked to above suggested using the term "training wheels" if you want to imply someone is using something that they should have outgrown the need for, instead of "crutch."

Okay, it's more than one word. But it's a heck of a lot less than 14.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: CapriUni
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 10:13 PM

Interesting, Q.

Seems like "crutch" might've originally meant "stick with a thing on top to push against" (the earliest designs for crutches were an underarm type, with no hand grips, that supported a person's underarms), and the negative meaning came about from the negative attitudes people had (and have) about the people who need them.

And yes, it's old. But that also means it's about damned time for a change.

Meanwhile, not three minutes after I posted my last note here, I turned on the TV, and heard this opening line from a car commercial:

"I could go for the 'Holiday Angle,' but that's just a crutch. And I'm a better salesman than that."

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 10:11 PM

sheesh... the only point of using 'crutch' about NON-medical issues is to point out that someone is employing some extra 'aid' which they shouldn't need. There is no shame if the aid IS needed.

Crutch is simply a handy metaphor to avoid 14 word... or more.. explanations.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 10:04 PM

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.

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: CapriUni
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 10:02 PM

her "friends" insist it's a "crutch," telling her that once she gives into using it she will "never be independent."

Yes. This is precisely the type of pejorative use I'm talking about. And, yes, it makes me angry.

As if hobbling around her house in pain is making her any more independent, or giving her a fuller life.

That's why I want to get the idea that crutches are a kind of ladder-- they can raise us up, both figuratively and metaphorically.

Anyone "up" for a chorus of "I am climbing Jacob's Ladder"?

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 09:41 PM

I'm with ya's! It brings to mind a conversation I had lately with a 75 year old lady still recovering from a nasty recurrent leg-break of several years ago. SHE NEEDS A SCOOTER, but her "friends" insist it's a "crutch," telling her that once she gives into using it she will "never be independent." As if she might never progress... as if she is not independent using a scooter... and if she doesn't ever leave it behind, well OK! Then (DUH) she needs the scooter! So I tried to de-goof THAT one!

(I get pretty tired of "religion as crutch" thinking too, because lemme tell ya's, surprise surprise-- religion does NOT make life any easier!)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 09:40 PM

i'd take it that bob needed the cards to make sure he stayed 'on track', not take it as a bad thing. after all, a crutch is an assistive device and not, at least in my background, something negative. but regional usages vary, i guess. right now i'd like a program like dragon so i wouldn't have to type lefthanded!

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: CapriUni
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 08:54 PM

Rap --

It's something that has been fairly common idiom in my part of the world (I came of age on the East Coast North America, in the mid-to-late 20th century) to say, as a put down (something like): "Well, Bob could have given a much better speech, but he insists on using cue cards as a crutch," as if using a crutch were a bad thing, and to imply that "Bob" is being deliberately lazy.

Walkers and canes don't show up in idiom, as much (unless it's to make a joke about someone being elderly, which is it's own can of bigoted worms).

Here's another article written about the use of "crutch" as a negative metaphor, that someone I know wrote a couple years ago: Ableist word profile: "Crutch"

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 07:40 PM

i've never heard that used pejoratively, except by those using them [as in 'this @%$^!! crutch!"].

what do you do about canes, walkers, braces, etc.?

Subject: RE: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 07:36 PM

"And I, I never took much, I never asked for your crutch, so don't ask for mine"?

Subject: BS: The use of 'Crutch' as a pejorative
From: CapriUni
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 07:13 PM

(This is something I've recently posted to my personal online journals, in a slightly different form. I figure that many of my fellow Mudcatters like a bit of blather about words and what we do with them, so I thought I'd post it here, too)

Over recent years, I've become more politically aware and vocal about Disability Rights and History, and I've begun to pay attention to disability in our metaphors.

And it occurred to me recently that the whole use of "Crutch" as a derogatory term belies how many people assume we're all faking our disabilities: "I bet they could walk if they really tried; they're just too lazy to carry their own weight."

Compare that with Ladders as a metaphor: climbing the ladder of business success.

And really, crutches are more like ladders than they are not: both are tools to help us get higher than we're capable of, under own own power: ladders help us surmount a steep barrier, and crutches help us get our noses out of the mud. They even kind of look the same, if you think of the hand grip as a rung.

So:
I'm going start referring to them as "hand ladders" (like handsaw, or hand drill):

"Excuse me, could you help? My hand ladder fell over, and I can't reach it."

"Your what?"

"My crutch -- you know -- my hand ladder." And roll my eyes as if it were obvious.

It could be quite fun spreading a little linguistic chaos that way.