A term that derived in Kirksville,
Missouri, this was an actual place. My
father remembers seeing a 1950's
map displayed in the City Hall that labeled the creek ('
crick') where the city sewer discharged as 'Shit Creek (
Crick)'. This creek was located at the
bottom of Osteopathy Hill just north of the hospital and drained generally westward into 'the holler'. Today this is a fairly upscale area but back then it was mostly unoccupied land except by the 5 poorest families in Kirksville. Most of these families lived in tarpaper shacks with galvanized tin roofs and dirt floors. So in the beginning it was an actual location. Example- "I saw a huge deer at Shit
Crick the other night when we were out riding around and drinking beer." Later, it referred to those living in the vicinity. Example- "Yeah, I saw that So-and-So Cricker the other night at the Red Angus." It was soon shortened to just 'cricker'.
By the
mid 60's/ early 70's, it was a very derogatory term. It was about the absolute worst insult one could use. It meant a low-down, worthless bum, worse than white-
trash. A liar, thief, a druggie. An unprincipled, unreliable, irresponsible person who was uneducated and unwilling to better themselves.
This term was not known widely outside of Kirksville until sometime around 1990. In
Memphis in the early 90's when I was apologizing for being filthy from the farm and "looking like a cricker". No one knew what it meant unless they had been employed or lived in Kirksville.
"I blew a tire at Shit
Crick the other night." "You are such a Cricker! Why don't you get a job?" "We went to a party at Circle Drive the other night. You know- down in the Holler past Shit
Crick." "You lost your license? How are you gonna get to
work? I guess you're up Shit Crick now, huh?"
