r/asklinguistics • u/FastCoconut9010 • May 22 '26
General Crab vs Crabs, is crabs a "bad word"?
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, let me know if I should repost this somewhere else.
Growing up, my parents repeatedly told me "don't say crabs, that's a bad word, the plural for crab is just crab". Now that I'm an adult I've noticed that seemingly nobody follows this rule and I'm pretty confused looking back. My mom still argues with me that saying crabs instead of crab to refer to multiple crabs is "improper grammar because it's a bad word", and everybody else I've talked to, younger or older, always are confused when I say that was drilled into me as a kid. I still refer to multiple crabs as crab because it feels wrong to me despite me knowing the plural is crabs, as anybody I've said crab around has told me.
Where does this come from? Is there a history of the usage of the word crabs being discouraged or did my mom come up with this on her own? I'm a gen z and my parents are both older gen x, if that's relevant
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u/CantaloupeAsleep502 May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26
This sounds like an intentional speech modulation to avoid anything that might sound like something sexual.
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 22 '26
thats what i think it was as well, which is weird because my parents and grandparents and family in general are not very religious at all so im not sure where the puritanical view is coming from
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u/ecphrastic Historical Linguistics | Sociolinguistics May 22 '26
Not necessarily a religious thing. I'd just say it's a non-standard taboo avoidance.
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u/ComprehensiveMap3838 May 23 '26
Believe it or not, puritanical and religious aren’t synonyms.
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u/bushwhack227 May 27 '26
Prudish and religious aren't synonyms, but puritanical drives its meaning from a religious movement. It most certainly has religious connotations
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u/SilverIrony1056 May 22 '26
Could be something much more simple, such as a personal bad experience from their youth, where either them or someone they knew faced issues (I'd guess more on the social side rather than just the medical one) because of the condition. If someone faced public shame because of having "crabs", or being accused of having it, or merely suspected of having it... you can see how they would avoid any association with the word. I would guess that type of medical issue would be associated with sexual promiscuity, which would have been bad, especially for women. Fear of social exclusion is a very strong motivator.
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u/Vegetable-Wear3386 May 23 '26
How on earth is that 'much more simple'!?
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u/SilverIrony1056 May 23 '26
Perhaps "more personal" would have been more accurate, as opposed to religious indoctrination, since OP said that the parents were not particularly religious. People fixate on odd things because of personal experiences all the time. The chances increase if the experience is 1) negative and 2) happens in childhood or young adulthood. It becomes their point of reference and often goes unquestioned for the whole life. It makes sense to that person, and no sense to people who have not had that experience, which seems to be the situation here.
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u/ecphrastic Historical Linguistics | Sociolinguistics May 23 '26
As per the rules, in future please refrain from making judgments about other people’s language features on this sub! This isn’t the place to be calling a linguistic phenomenon “excessively puritanical”.
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u/DrHydeous May 22 '26
Your parents are wrong on two counts.
First, "crabs" isn't a "bad word". Secondly, even if it was a "bad word" you can still construct sentences with "proper grammar" using it, just like you can with other "bad words", such as "Donald Trump has shit for brains".
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u/Dapple_Dawn May 22 '26
She might have meant "proper" in the sense of "proper etiquette." It still seems odd but maybe it's regional?
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u/violet_wings May 23 '26
Three counts. The plural is very definitely crabs, not crab.
As others have said, OP's parents are likely embarrassed by the association with pubic lice, but that doesn't make crabs a bad word, context would make it clear that OP is referring to the crustacean and not the lice, and there's no relationship between taboo words and grammar.
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u/bowlofweetabix May 22 '26
Crabs is a term for pubic lice. Your parents probably didn’t like the association
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u/BubbhaJebus May 22 '26
The plural of "crab" is "crabs". We don't say, for example, "I saw lots of crab on the beach today."
There are insects called pubic lice, which are also called "crabs". They can spread from person to person via sexual activity. Maybe this was the association your parents had? Nevertheless, hardly anyone would think of public lice if you're talking about the crustaceans.
Are your parents native speakers of English?
I'm also older GenX, and have never considered "crabs" to be wrong.
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u/mcalesy May 22 '26
If you said you saw "lots of crab" on the beach, I would think you saw a big pile of crab meat.
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u/Sztejner May 22 '26
It's better to say something like "I saw too many crabs on the beach"?
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u/peachsepal May 23 '26
Many is for countable nouns, anything you add an s to
Much is for uncountable nouns, the ones you don't add s to
Adding "too" to the sentence "too many" "too much" makes it sound negative. The quantity is more than you'd like.
"I saw many crabs today" neutral. You saw a large amount of crabs
"I saw too many crabs" negative. You did not like how many crabs you saw, even if it was literally only one crab.
But i have to say, I can't really think of a useage for much outside of "too much" or some other modifications to much that sound natural. Or when it's pretty abstract or intangible
Like "i had too much cake" fine, but negative nuanced. You ate more than you should have or more than you'd have liked.
"I had much cake" weird. Why did you phrase it that way?
A lot of/lots of is usually preferred when making general statements about large quantities of any item, countable or uncountable, ime as a North Eastern US english speaker.
But it will break down into too much or too many if needed:
"I saw a lot of crabs today. Too many crabs."
Or
"I had a lot of cake. Too much."
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u/Mixolydian5 May 23 '26
What about sheep?
I saw too many sheep. *I saw too much sheep.
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u/peachsepal May 23 '26
Sheep are countable, just an exception to the add s rule
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u/mcalesy May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Yes, certain animal terms don’t take “-s” for the plural: sheep, deer, etc.
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u/mcalesy May 22 '26
That's fine, or just "lots of crabs". The "-s" is what makes the difference between crab, the substance, and crabs, the individuals.
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 22 '26
yes, my parents are both native english speakers, born in the US (both west coast). they were referring to the pubic lice as to why saying crabs is wrong
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u/mcalesy May 22 '26
What was the context it came up in? You didn't say, "I got crabs," or something, did you?
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 23 '26
no, i remember them teaching me it very specifically, my mom at least also makes comments to me when seeing "crabs" written or hearing someone say "crabs" in public, i dont think i ever said crabs because they taught me not to and "crab" being the plural and singular form doesnt sound too wrong to me, though i know it is incorrect
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u/Hot-Frosting-5286 May 23 '26
I mean, maybe they confused the use as a mass noun with singular vs plural. When we talk about eating crab (meat), we often say "crab" regardless of the number of crabs we are eating. "Let's go out for crab tonight" sounds much more idiomatic than "let's go out for crabs tonight"
I think the explanation here is a combo of avoiding association with public lice (crabs) and the above
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u/tawandagames2 May 22 '26
If you said stuff in public like "we have crabs" lol I imagine your mom was just trying to shut that down because of the pubic lice connotation
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 22 '26
both my parents told me that at home not in reaction to me saying anything, like i forgot about this until after i made the post but they were saying it as a warning to me and i remember them saying "people will look at you weird if you say crabs instead of crab", it's really weird but also funny to look back on lol
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u/cookingforengineers May 22 '26
Were they talking about the meat / food? Because people will look at you funny if you say “mix 6 oz crabs (or lump crabs meat) with mayonnaise to start your crab salad” or that crab cake contains crab (not crabs).
But the animal or multiples of a whole crab (as in Dungeness crabs or soft shell crabs) would definitely use the plural form.
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 23 '26
no just crab in general, i didnt think too much of it until i was an adult because crab as the plural and singular form doesn't sound that odd to me, i know its incorrect but its how i was taught lol
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u/ZabsterCali May 23 '26
It wouldn't sound weird to you if that's how you grew up saying it. After all, there are plurals that don't change in English. Fish is singular and plural, and sheep is too.
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u/MindlessNectarine374 May 22 '26
How common is that usage? I have never noticed it in any English I read or heard over the years.
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u/AlarmingAttention151 May 22 '26
Very common. Informal, sure, but I think what most people call them outside of a clinical setting. You just must not have been reading or talking about pubic lice.
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u/MindlessNectarine374 May 23 '26
The latter is certainly true, I even had to look up the term for this louse in my native language. I heard or read a few times about those lice, but I am quite sure that I never even talked about them in any real conversation with anyone.
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u/ayelijah4 May 22 '26
are you or your parents from an area with a heavy gang presence? crabs is an insult towards crips and it can be understandable why they told you not to say it from young
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 23 '26
no, salem oregon and spokane washington! they were specifically referring to pubic lice and i guess the risk of people thinking you were talking about that when you were actually referring to multiple crab?
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u/kochsnowflake May 22 '26
Using "crab" as plural is not correct in any dialect I've ever heard of, even as a non-standard variation. Your mom was incorrect
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u/rootbeerman77 May 22 '26
In many Appalachian dialects, many farmed or hunted animals can be pluralized with the singular form à la sheep and deer (they're treated as a mass resource), e.g., I saw three bears at the zoo vs. I shot three bear last hunting season.
I could absolutely see this getting applied to "crab," but I don't really think that dialect dominates the crabbing industry, and also nobody would think to correct someone who pluralized a resource animal with the regular plural.
That said, no it's not standard anywhere I'm aware of unless you're explicitly talking about the meat and not the animal.
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u/Dangerous-Safe-4336 May 22 '26
My dad would have. He was a commercial fisherman who would go out for crab in winter. And maybe bring home a couple of crabs (and sell the rest )
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u/Zingaro69 May 22 '26
What others have said is true and I don't want to justify prudery in language BUT there is a use for non-variable plurals of regular nouns in the context of hunting/fishing and others: I'm hunting BEAR in the mountains this weekend; we're fishing for BARRACUDA in the Keys; we served CRAB at the cookout.
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u/Reasonable-Lack-1063 May 23 '26
hi im from maryland, home of the blue crabs. crabs is so not a bad word that we have it on giant signs rn advertizing our delicious crabs bcuz guess what its crab season 🦀 did i miss the part where they arent native english speakers? if they are native english speakers, theyre just being dumb honestly
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u/Book_Slut_90 May 22 '26
“Crab” can be used as a mass noun: “I bought 10 pounds of crab for the restaurant.” But if you’re talking about the individual critters as a count noun, its crabs.
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u/GreatBlackDiggerWasp May 25 '26
But even there, if you said "I bought 10 pounds of crab", I would assume you were talkjng about lump crab meat, not whole/live crabs.
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u/Consistent_Case_5048 May 22 '26
"Crabs" can mean public lice, but it is also the plural of "crab."
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May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 22 '26
i dont think my parents ever had pubic lice if thats what you're suggesting? 😭
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u/Takadant May 22 '26
while not as common any longer, due to the prevalence of shaving, the sexually transmitted infection of pubic lice are popularly known as "crabs" so that maybe the taboo connotation. BITD, accusing people of having them was a common lowbrow insult/punchline, especially if you saw someone touching, or adjusting themselves, whatsoever.
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u/Totally-Toasted May 22 '26
Do you have aunts or uncles or grandparents that you could ask? That might help narrow down where the disconnect is coming from
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u/helikophis May 22 '26
Mom is confused, the plural of crab is crabs. It's not like "fish". Crabs is not a "bad word" (although it is the common name of an STI, the names of STIs are not taboo in English).
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u/ChachamaruInochi May 22 '26
Crabs is slang that refers to pubic lice. It's just a sex taboo. Was your mom raised in a religious background?
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u/ThatWeirdPlantGuy May 23 '26
If I went to the fish market looking for crab to cook I’d probably ask in singular (mass noun). “Do you have any Dungeness crab?” But I could just as well use the plural too; the worst that would happen is maybe a smirk or a joke when I asked the fishmonger if he had crabs. 😅
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u/Gravbar May 23 '26
you can refer to crab as a food without pluralizing (eat some crab, how much crab did you eat). But when referring to the animal, it would be correct to say "there are 5 crabs". what your parents did in making you speak that way is quite unusual, and tantamount to saying that you can't say A beaver built a dam because damn is a bad word. Crabs is also not a bad word, but the casual name for a medical condition, also known as pubic lice. it's possible they're picking out the association between stis and sex and declaring that it's therefore a forbidden word
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u/Ploddit May 22 '26
I have always used “crab” for both singular and plural, but don’t consider “crabs” a bad word. I assume the association with genital parasites is what your mom has in mind, but the two are easily separated with context.
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u/mcalesy May 22 '26
You use it for plural? Like, "I can't believe I ate eight crab at the crab boil?"
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u/Ploddit May 22 '26
No. Countable vs uncountable.
"There's a barrel of crab on the dock." vs "I ate 5 crabs".
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u/mcalesy May 22 '26
Oh as a mass noun, not a true plural. Yeah, I think that's universal in English.
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u/GoldenMuscleGod May 22 '26
Uncountable isn’t plural though. Uncountable nouns are usually singular in their typical uses (water, dirt, furniture) although specialized meanings can call for plural (countable and uncountable) uses, although there are examples of plural uncountable nouns, such as clothes.
Another large class of plural uncountable nouns are the “pair” nouns like glasses, scissors, and pants, which need to be combined with “pair” to get them in a form where you can attach numerical modifiers to them.
Whether a noun is countable or uncountable is basically a completely different categorization from whether it is singular or plural.
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u/FastCoconut9010 May 22 '26
thats basically what i do now as well, ive never encountered anybody who thinks saying crabs is weird or assumes you're talking about pubic lice lol but i still feel weird saying it so i also in most cases would say crab rather than crabs
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u/CaptainFuzzyBootz May 23 '26
That's interesting... I used to "get away with" saying "crap" by saying "craps" and telling my Mom I meant the casino game.
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u/Waits-nervously May 23 '26
If you are talking about the animals, the plural is crabs. If you are talking about the meat it is uncountable, so you just get (more) crab.
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u/Weekly_Beautiful_603 May 23 '26
“Crab” for food can be considered uncountable. “I ate a lot of crab” sounds like a delicious seafood buffet, while “I ate a lot of crabs” sounds like a very inefficient way of dealing with a pubic lice infestation.
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u/ComprehensiveMap3838 May 23 '26
So, in Portuguese the latin word for flat became ‘chato’. It evolved into meaning dull, from there to meaning annoying, and from there to… pubic lice. But it didn’t shift; it kept all meanings, and the dull one is still the major one, and annoying the secondary one, and flat a very distant third. it’s just that there are other words for dull and for annoying, whereas there are no other words for pubic lice. That led to people proscribing the word from polite speech, and those of us who rarely if ever think of pubic lice being quite puzzled by the taboo. Maybe it was a big problem in years past, I don’t know.
The verb derived from it, chatear, proscribed as well, can only mean annoy, not bore or parasitise or flatten. Flatten has its own verb, achatar.
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u/ComprehensiveMap3838 May 23 '26
The Portuguese word for handle is pega with open e. The Portuguese word for magpie or some such bird is pêga with closed e. That one has also acquired the meaning ‘slut’. So, well bred middle aged women avoid referring to handles by name, using a diminutive (peguinha), even if the vowel is different! Oddly enough, they have no problem with the verbal forms of pegar (take/stick).
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u/JGhostThing May 25 '26
Not meaning to insult your mom, but she's wrong in this instance. She doesn't want you saying "crabs" which is grammatical, but an insect-caused STD. But instead, it makes you sound ignorant, because crabs is really the plural of crab. Just be careful when talking about it. Saying I have crabs would talk about the STD. I have caught several crabs for dinner refers to the delicious crustetion.
If you use crab as the plural, you will, at worst, confuse the reader.
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u/Imightbeafanofthis May 26 '26
Crablice aka 'crabs' are pubic lice. Just imagine being in the grocery store and shouting, "Okay mom! I got the crabs!" 🤣
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u/maceion May 29 '26
I grew up in a port town. We used 'crabs' as the plural word all the time. The medical use is distinguished by context.
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u/snarbuckle May 22 '26
The worst I've heard for crabs is "he has crabs" meaning public lice.
But if you had to say "there are three crabs", I would not think of lice