AMC "Croo" question

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
D

dvbl

Guest
Why are the AMC Hut volunteers known as the "Croo"? Having grown up in Providence, RI, I've developed an expert ear regarding the mangling of the English language. And the intentional mis-spelling of words to indicate how they're pronounced is common ("Park" is "pock" (Providence), "pawk" (NYC), and "pack" (Boston), etc...

But why "Croo" instead of "crew"? They're pronounced the same.

And another thing, those three kids on Mt Madison who were rescued should've.......(just kidding) ;)
 
They're not volunteers, those are the paid staff at the huts. I don't think there's any real reason why they use "croo", it's just one of those in-jokes and ways to recognize themselves. The huts all have similar nicknames, like Flea for Greenleaf, Zool for Zealand, Ghoul for Galehead, though I suspect they might change over time.

-dave-
 
dvbl said:
Why are the AMC Hut volunteers known as the "Croo"? Having grown up in Providence, RI, I've developed an expert ear regarding the mangling of the English language. And the intentional mis-spelling of words to indicate how they're pronounced is common ("Park" is "pock" (Providence), "pawk" (NYC), and "pack" (Boston), etc...
Click to expand...

The AMC's "Croo" sounds humorously phonetic to me. The ADKs "Loj," etc., coined by Van Hoevenberg (sp?), was a more systematic effort to simplify spelling, which has arcane laws of logic to say the least.

The DOC/Moosilauke Ravine Lodge crew has referred to itself as the "Lodj Croo." Maybe hikers--"croos" at least--prefer a simpler, more rationale, closer-to-nature (that is, to spoken language) method of spelling. Or maybe they just like to imitate one another. (Many early AMC croos were also drawn from DOC.)
 
Last edited:
While the ADK pro-guys sometimes refer to themselves as 'the croo' the most comonly refer to themselves as "TFC", which, I beleive stands for "The Fine Croo".. At lest that's what my tells me that his TFC shirt stands for.
 
Pete_Hickey said:
While the ADK pro-guys sometimes refer to themselves as 'the croo' the most comonly refer to themselves as "TFC", which, I beleive stands for "The Fine Croo".. At lest that's what my [TFR: son?] tells me that his TFC shirt stands for.
Click to expand...
Is your son pictured in the latest AMC Outdoors magazine?
 
at least as far back as the 1930s

From "Forest and Crag" p 385 in the context of discussing Joe Dodge, the hut system, and the opening of Galehead and Zealand huts ~1931-32.

"Teams of two to four 'hut-men' were recruited from the colleges, with a strong Dartmouth bias. The young men welcomed the special life of hard work, clean air, and spectacular surroundings. The 'croos' (or, more strictly rendered, 'Da Croo') provided clean blankets and hot meals, the latter soon acquiring hearty renown among hikers."


Kind of implies the use of "croo" at least back then.



Better get back to work now!

chipc
 
yea, those Hut Kids got their own thing going on. The rest of us working on the trails stick with the correct spelling of Crew. Though we all have our own nicknames that stays from a long time tradition. Like Trail Crew goes by T.F.C. (you'll have to figure out the acronym on your own for that one) Construction Crew goes by CC. and us caretakers just go by Backcountry Crew.

Dingle
 
David Metsky said:
The huts all have similar nicknames, like Flea for Greenleaf, Zool for Zealand, Ghoul for Galehead, though I suspect they might change over time. -dave-
Click to expand...

I do not think that much of the Huts language changes over time, which is what I like about it. Ex. Da Flea, Da Zool, and Da Ghoul all go way back before I worked in the Huts in the late 60s. However, Dave is certainly correct about some of the jargon, such as the no-longer-used OH word "garboon."

Here is a link to our Web site; I believe that there is an epistemology article for OH jargon in a past Rescusitator (our newsletter); I will see if I can find a quick link to that.

http://www.ohcroo.com/
 
I met some folks a couple years ago with T-shirts for "Storehaus", another contraction
 
Gaboons

Now that the huts are Clivus Multrim equipped, the old Gaboons are few and far between. Using the chain falls and toting handles is now a long welcomed nearly dead ordeal for the Croos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Top