G'day greg stephens,

Have faith in some things ... Crapper was real ... was the patentee of an advance in toilet flushing cistern design ... was "Sanitary Engineer to her Majesty Queen Victoria - even if he was not the "inventor" of the first flush toilet. (A much earlier one was constructed for Queen Elizabeth the First ... and continuous flush toilets date back, at least, to Minos, c. 1500 BCE.

There is a biography (C. 1975 ...?) of Thomas Crapper ... very imaginatively called "Flushed With Pride" complete with a photograph of his name on a plaque on the floor of Westminster Abbey (an access point to plumbing pipes!). Much more real than Irish names for the didge. For that to have any credence requires a good linguistic history of the early use of the term and clear "Irish" connections.

Regards,

Bob Bolton