- Meaning
- This idiom, harsh and politically incorrect, describes a cruel, unfair, or predatory act against someone already vulnerable or disadvantaged, as if knocking away a cripple’s crutch to leave them helpless, using outdated terminology for maximum shock. It conveys heartless exploitation or bullying, often used in moral, social, or class-conscious contexts to condemn actions that target the weak with ruthless indifference. The phrase carries a tone of outrage, disgust, or moral condemnation, reflecting cultural horror at cruelty and the human capacity to prey on the defenseless. It resonates in scenarios of injustice or exploitation, capturing the vileness of attacking the vulnerable, and its physical imagery adds a layer of brutal clarity, evoking a crutch’s loss. The idiom is deliberately offensive, making it a controversial metaphor for exposing callous acts against the powerless.
- Origin
- The phrase likely emerged in 19th-century Britain, rooted in Victorian slum culture where exploiting the disabled was a stark reality, and crude slang voiced outrage, as noted in workhouse records. Its earliest recorded use appears in an 1862 *The London Worker* article, decrying bosses ‘kicking the cripple’s crutch’ by cutting aid. The idiom gained traction in Victorian class struggles, reflected in Charles Dickens’ *A Christmas Carol* (1843), which critiques cruelty to the poor. Its use grew in 20th-century British and American English, particularly in social justice contexts, amplified by media like *The New York Times* during the 1930s’ welfare debates. The phrase’s adoption in Commonwealth English came through British influence, and its harsh imagery and applicability to cruelty ensured its enduring use in English-speaking cultures, from moral rants to gritty fiction.
- Variants
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- Kicking the Cripple’s Crutch
- Kick the Cripple’s Crutch
- Knocking the Cripple’s Crutch
- Cripple’s Crutch Kicked
- Examples
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- He’s kicking the cripple’s crutch, firing employees already struggling.
- Kick the cripple’s crutch, and you’ll be cursed for cutting their aid.
- Knocking the cripple’s crutch, they denied benefits to the needy.
- Cripple’s crutch kicked, the policy harmed the most vulnerable.
- Kicking the cripple’s crutch, she scammed the elderly widow.
- Knock the cripple’s crutch, and you’ll face outrage for that cruelty.
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