Crack (craic)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Irish English, the word crack or 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 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?"
[edit] 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.
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,[7] and elaborated via an open letter to an internet forum[8]:
| “ | [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. | ” |
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—Fintan Vallely |
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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.'[9] Critics have accused the Irish tourism industry and the promoters of Irish theme pubs of marketing 'commodified craic' as a kind of stereotypical Irishness.[10]
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.c
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of English "crack"
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.b
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.a
- ^ "Crack, Craic" from Hiberno-English dictionary
- ^ "Crak" from the Dictionary of the Scots Language
- ^ Vallely, Fintan (1999). Companion to Irish Traditional Music. New York: NYU Press. ISBN 0814788025.
- ^ Vallely, Fintan (2004-12-01). The ultimate case sticker (and seisiún vs session): Stop the press!. thesession.org. Retrieved on December 22, 2006.
- ^ McNally, Frank (2005). Xenophobe's Guide to the Irish. London: Oval, 19. ISBN 1-902825-33-0.
- ^ 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.
