Crabs in a bucket....
 

Anyone ever hear that expression? Have any idea who came up with it or made it popular.

Thanks

Is that some kind of euphemism for a condition picked through an indescretion while out drinking and "socializing?"

You can fill a bucket with crabs but none will ever escape - as soon as one gets the the lip of the bucket the others latch on and pull him back in. It was a cliche on society somewhere........little brain dead today

my guess is better in a bucket than on your body. Hey anyone remember the Cheech and Chong- Buster The Body Crab routine?

I always thought it was an African American author, but not sure...:sultan:

Yep - Good stuff.
Here ya go:
http://www.greggriffin.com/Editorials/CrabBucket.htm

Regardless of who first coined it an african American attribution seems likely.

My Grandfather recalled it as being a common proverb among the Gullah blacks and first heard it as a child in 1907-08,according to him it was always viewed as a black expression.

Also he heard it amongst the black Tidewater baymen along Maryland and Virginia.

The only other time I heard reference to it was from my friend Vince Giordano,who had it directly from Eubie Blake shortly before his death.

When he asked Eubie about the jazz scene in the '20's and '30's he replied "well,you ever see a bucket of crabs?soon as one reaches the top the others pull him back down to the bottom,that's what life is like pretty much".

And this was a verbatim quote.

That is a sad observation on a subculture.

Tom W

I thought that was a cockroach...:D

Hell yeah! It's off the "'LOS COCHINOS" album. I must have been 12 yrs old when it
came out. Great stuff. I think the basket ball jones song is on that album too.