Crash Course

[primetime34]

I know what crash course means, but does anybody have any idea why they call it that? In other words, what is the origin for the phrase "crash course". Thanks.

[xpert]

I hope this helps you

[primetime34]

That was a very informative and helpful post on the what a crash course is, but my interest is in finding out why they call a "crash course" a "crash course". Why does "crash course" mean a quick study about a particular topic. Why do they call it that? What is the origin of the idiom?

[primetime34]

So nobody has any idea why it is called a "crash course"?

[Anglika]

crash course definition | Dictionary.com


Surely because you crash through the information when taking the course.

[VSPrasad]

(idiomatic) A quick, intense course of learning, especially one which is informal or hurried.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crash_course

a rapid and intense course of training or research (usually undertaken in an emergency)

Example: "He took a crash course in Italian on his way to Italy"

http://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?Word=crash_course

Idioms: crash course

A short, intensive training course, as in Daisy planned to take a crash course in cooking before she got married. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]


http://www.answers.com/topic/crash-course

Origin of most of the idioms is unknown. The word crash is intended to
express hurried and emergency way in which the course is given.

[Fleet Chrost]

Originally Posted by Anglika

crash course definition | Dictionary.com


Surely because you crash through the information when taking the course.

This is possible. It also suggests to me the idea of pulling all-nighters to study and "crashing" afterwards. Or perhaps, learning to perform a physical activity at such a frenzied pace that one frequently crashes into obstacles, for example driving or skiing (OK I admit that's a bit of a stretch). One could even imagine a kamikaze flight school where students are only taught how to take off, not how to land.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Anglika

crash course definition | Dictionary.com


Surely because you crash through the information when taking the course.

Or the information comes at you in a sudden and uncontrolled way. The image works either way.

I don't think the idea of 'crashing' after an all-nighter is involved. That use of 'crash' entered the language fairly recently ('60s, I'd guess, when attitudes to sleeping arrangements became less hide-bound - 'OK if I crash on your floor after the party?'), and I'm sure 'crash course' predates that.

b

[Fleet Chrost]

Originally Posted by BobK

I don't think the idea of 'crashing' after an all-nighter is involved. That use of 'crash' entered the language fairly recently ('60s, I'd guess, when attitudes to sleeping arrangements became less hide-bound - 'OK if I crash on your floor after the party?'), and I'm sure 'crash course' predates that.

I tend to agree there is not a direct connection. However from my cursory examination, the two usages appear to be chronologically about co-incident, unless you know of some early examples of "crash course". Merriam-Webster puts "crash course" at 1966 (if they have an exact date why don't the cite the example?!) while The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms says "mid-1900's" (via Dictionary.com) as mentioned in a previous post. Slang meaning "sleep" dates from 1943; especially from 1965, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary via Dictionary.com. Really the shade of meaning I intended was more a state of over-exhaustion after staying up far too long and/or taking amphetamines, rather than simply adopting a horizontal position; I imagine this usage dates to the same time period from World War II to the Sixties.

I am going to speculate that this phrase actually derives from "crash-land". In a crash landing you have an emergency situation where you have to land right away, regardless of the consequences. Similarly a crash course implies an emergency need to learn something in a less-than-ideal amount of time, as opposed to simply a course that happens to be short. Indeed, a pilot who is crash landing is said to be "setting a crash course".

I was surprised to see "crash" as an adjective in Wiktionary: "quick, fast, intensive: crash course, crash diet". This implies that a "crash course" is not really idiomatic but just a proper usage of crash as an adjective. The problem with that idea is that I can't think of any examples other than "crash course" and "crash diet" (unless you count synonyms such as "crash program" which are the same as "crash course"). So this leads me to speculate that both uses are modeled after "crash-land", which originated during World War II. This kind of fits the same pattern along with the earlier "crash dive" (1918, Merriam Webster) which refers to an emergency submarine dive as fast as possible (sometimes leaving crew on deck).

Certainly in crash-land and crash diet, there is an implication that you have to "pay the piper" for doing things in such a hurried manner (making repairs on your plane, deleterious health side-effects). I feel there is a hint of this in the crash course as well; you may have to sacrifice maintaining your "normal life" (work, sleep, social obligations) while completing a crash course, which you may have to pay back later. Thus it may be tenuously related to the "crashing" you must endure after drugs or staying up all night, but not directly derived from it; rather my guess is that both are derived from the metaphor of airplanes falling out of the sky.

[BobK]

Sounds possible.

b