Orally urinating turtle boffin in nominative-determinism classic case We're obliged to reader Roger Denholm for alerting us to the best example of nominative determinism we've seen for many moons - the case of Shit Fun Chew and the orally urinating turtle. New Scientist reports that Alex Yuen Kwong Ip of the National University of Singapore has been studying Pelodiscus sinensis, known to its …
The earliest mention in the OED of this definition of crap as a verb comes from 1846. As a noun, the earliest mention comes from 1898; crapper’s earliest mention comes from 1932, in the States, seven years before its use in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. What preceded crapper as the name of the site? Crapping case, crapping ken, and crapping-castle.
Earlier definitions of crap include “money” in the 18th century (which might explain the phrase to give a crap) and “dregs of beer or ale”. The earliest definitions, from the 15th century, include “the residue from rendering, boiling, or melting fat” (cracklings), “a name of some plants” (such as buckwheat), and “the husk of grain” (chaff).
If you have proof of the “defecation” meaning from hundreds of years before Crapper’s birth, please send your evidence to Oxford University Press, where it would undoubtedly be gratefully received and incorporated into the next edition of their dictionary.
I recall there being some (turtles, not researchers) that could breathe through their butt. Bit of searching gets the Fitzroy River turtle as an example.
Urinating through the mouth though... a quick read says it's actually discharging urea. Still, amazing.
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