The slang term “come a cropper” originated from falling off a horse in the 1700s and expanded to metaphorical falls. It does not come from a printing press inventor named Thomas Henry Cropper. The term was originally used among horsemen and became more widely used in British English.
The origins of the slang term “come a cropper,” referring to a nasty fall, are quite fascinating. Originally, this term was used to discuss a physical fall, particularly from a horse, and over time it has been expanded to refer to metaphorical falls. Then you might hear “Dave tried to go up the pub stairs and came out” or “the defense really made a splash when they brought that witness out”. This phrase is mostly used in England, and speakers of English in other regions of the world may have difficulty understanding it unless they are familiar with British English.
One of the interesting things about the origins of phrases in the mind of this wiseGEEK writer are the bizarre legends and explanations that arise to explain common phrases. In the case of “how a cropper,” there is actually a very clear and readily available explanation, but that hasn’t stopped people from coming up with a catchy legend.
The origin story of the phrase involves Thomas Henry Cropper, a man who developed a version of the platen press in the mid-1800s. The story goes that over time, all platen presses were referred to as “croppers” and that someone could “become a cropper” by getting their fingers stuck in the operation of the press. While trapping body parts in a printing press is a very real danger to printing, especially with older printing presses, this fascinating story is patently false.
In fact, “as a cropper” comes from a term for a horse’s rear, the section of a horse’s anatomy that tends to become highly visible when a rider falls. The words “croup” and “crupper” for a horse’s rear end come from Norse words for “bump,” and when people fell off horses in the 1700s, they were said to have fallen “neck and crop.” In 1858, eight years before Cropper invented his printing press, the term “come a cropper” appeared in the press in reference to a bad fall on a hunting expedition, and this slang term entered the English language.
This slang term was originally used among horsemen, often in derisive descriptions of other horsemen trying to make dangerous jumps or riding horses they could not control. Given the widespread popularity of riding and hunting in England in the 1800s, it’s no surprise that this equestrian term began to be used more generally among speakers of British English.
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