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Crack (craic)
In Irish English, the word crack, which recently has increasingly come to be
spelled craic, means "fun, enjoyment, abandonment, or lighthearted mischief;
often in the context of drinking or music".[1] In Ireland, the spelling
craic is now more common[2] for this sense of the word crack. This sense is
also current in North East England: in Newcastle upon Tyne there is a
listings magazine called The Crack. A related sense of crack, not restricted
to Ireland, is "joke"[3], as in crack a joke or wise-crack. Another sense of
crack, found in Scottish English, is "news, gossip"[4], which influences the
common Irish expression "What's the crack?", meaning "how are you?", "how
have you been?", or "have you any news?"
Craic
The context involving 'news' and 'gossip' originated in English[5] and
Scots[6] and came to Ireland through Ulster dialects of English, where the
sense of 'fun' developed.
It can frequently be found in the work of twentieth century Ulster writers
such as Brian Friel (1980): You never saw such crack in your life, boys[7]
and Jennifer Johnston (1977): I'm sorry if I muscled in on Saturday. Did I
spoil your crack? [8].
Like the origin of words over the centuries, 'crack' was borrowed, probably
in the 1960s or 1970s, into the Irish language with a Gaelicized spelling ('craic');
popularized in the catchphrase 'Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn' ('We'll
have music, chat and crack'), used by Seán Bán Breathnach for his
Irish-language chatshow SBB ina Shuí, broadcast on RTÉ from 1976 to 83. 'Craic'
was also used on Irish-language hand-lettered signs displayed outside many
pubs, and subsequently the Irish spelling was reborrowed for
English-language signs and publications. Until the late 1980s, this spelling
was unknown in English: Barney Rush's 1960s song "The Crack Was Ninety In
The Isle of Man" doesn't use the Irish-language spelling.
Fintan Vallely condemned the Gaelicised spelling in his Companion to Irish
Traditional Music,[9] and elaborated via an open letter to an internet
forum[10]:
“ [T]he spelling craic causes serious nausea among intelligent people. This
glib spelling of the word was invented in the 1970s ... it is the context of
the use of the (recent, modern) Irish spelling of the word that is the issue
- if craic is to be used, it should be used while writing in the Irish
language, OR placed in parentheses or in italics when writing in English. I
stress that this is a word which was NEVER in the Irish language (but cráic,
meaning arsehole, or creac, meaning herd, are). ... I grew up using the word
in the 1950s. When I went to Dublin (from Ulster) in 1968 NOBODY I met in
Dublin used 'crack' ... 'Crack' only began to be used with the influx of
northerners and in the context of music, it travelled with northern
influence (at the fleadh cheoil, etc) until southern people began to believe
that they had invented it. Ciaran Carson is particular enraged by the craic
spelling, so too Desi Wilkinson and many other otherwise tolerant souls. ”
—Fintan Vallely
Now, 'craic' is interpreted as a specifically and quintessentially Irish
form of fun. The adoption of the Gaelic spelling has reinforced the sense
that this is an independent word (homophone) rather than a separate sense of
the original word (polysemy). One columnist for The Irish Times once said of
the word: 'Most Irish people now have no idea it's foreign.'[11] Critics
have accused the Irish tourism industry and the promoters of Irish theme
pubs of marketing 'commodified craic' as a kind of stereotypical Irishness.[12]
Usage
Examples of use would be a reply to the question, 'How was your evening?'
such as 'Aye, it was good crack', meaning 'I had a good time'. A popular way
to start a conversation on the Internet and texting is 'What's the craic/crack?'
meaning 'Any news?' or 'Any gossip?' It is sometimes written as 'what's da
craic?, which is sometimes abbreviated to 'wdc'.
A person who is 'good crack' is fun to be with. Crack is, by default,
positive: 'good crack', 'great crack', 'the crack was ninety' or 'the crack
was mighty'. In Irish, 'Bhí craic againn' is 'We had a good time', and 'Bhí
an-chraic againn' is 'We had a great time'.
However, 'bad crack' is also used occasionally.
The 'news' sense of crack is used in the singular in Hiberno-English,
although originally Scots used the plural:
* Scots: 'Gie's your cracks. Whit's aw the news in the toun?'
* Hiberno-English / Mid-Ulster English: 'What's [or How's] the crack?'
[Typical response: 'Nothing much.']
* Irish: 'Cad é an craic leat?' ['What's new with you?']
The potential is well-known in Ireland of foreigners misconstruing "crack"
in such phrases as "I had some great crack" as referring to crack cocaine.
References
1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.c
2. ^ Oxford Dictionary of English "crack"
3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.b
4. ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.a
5. ^ "Crack, Craic" from Hiberno-English dictionary
6. ^ "Crak" from the Dictionary of the Scots Language
7. ^ Brian Friel: Translations
8. ^ Jennifer Johnston: Shadows on Our Skin
9. ^ Vallely, Fintan (1999). Companion to Irish Traditional Music. New York:
NYU Press. ISBN 0814788025.
10. ^ Vallely, Fintan (2004-12-01). The ultimate case sticker (and seisiún
vs session): Stop the press!. thesession.org. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.
11. ^ McNally, Frank (2005). Xenophobe's Guide to the Irish. London: Oval,
19. ISBN 1-902825-33-0.
12. ^ McGovern, Mark (2003). "'The Cracked Pint Glass of the Servant': the
Irish Pub, Irish Identity, and the Tourist Eye", in Michael Cronin and
Barbara O'Connor: Irish Tourism: Image, Culture and Identity. Clevedon:
Channel View, 91. ISBN 1-873150-54-7.
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