Crabs in the Time of Swine Flu

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First we have a guest Crab. Not quite the same as a crab à l'état sauvage (you can tell by its nice cooked color) but we are always ready for crabs of any stripe (now there's an interesting phrase to look up; see below), particularly if they look like they just ralphed.

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I think this is an excellent effort by a three year old

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This was Carlie's second effort, after her mother showed her what a crab looked like.

I like her first effort much, much better. It is a little like Casper the ghost.

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While not technically a crab, this drawing certainly employs the joie de vivre inherent in the mere concept of crabs. I know that seems contradictory, but, trust me (said Fozzie Bear.)

"of any stripe"
from here:

Just as textile fabrics can be made with a great variety of patterns characterized by different stripes, so men can be sorted into different types, or metaphorically, stripes.

Of course some of us have access to the OED online and could tell us when the earliest use was. It seems (from the source just referenced) to be an American political term.

I did find a reference in Don Quixote, but it was referring to the results of bantamweight flagellation. (note in particular that Google Search translates as "s" the old use of "f").