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Crack or craic is "fun, enjoyment, abandonment, or lighthearted mischief; often in the context of drinking or music".^[1] This sense of the word crack is found in Irish English, Scots, and in North East England. Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... For the 1914 Charlie Chaplin film, see Recreation (film). ... This article is about an emotion. ... Alcoholic beverages An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol, although in chemistry the definition of alcohol includes many other compounds. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... A word sense is one of the meanings of a word. ... For other uses, see Word (disambiguation). ... Hiberno-English is the form of the English language used in Ireland. ... This article is about the Anglic language of Scotland. ... North-East England is one of the nine official regions of England and comprises the combined area of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and a small part of North Yorkshire. ...

Origins

An older, related, more widespread, sense of crack is "joke"^[2], as in crack a joke or wise-crack. Another sense of crack, found in Scottish English, is "news, gossip"^[3], which influences the common Irish expression "What's the crack?" or "How's the crack?", meaning "how are you?", "how have you been?", or "have you any news?" For other uses, see News (disambiguation). ... Neighborly gossips in the Altstadt in Sindelfingen, Germany Gossip consists of casual or idle talk of any sort, usually slanderous and/or devoted to discussing others. ...

The context involving 'news' and 'gossip' originated in English^[4] and Scots^[5] and came to Ireland through Ulster dialects of English and/or Scots, where the sense of 'fun' developed. Early Irish citations from the Irish Independent relate to rural Ulster: from 1950, There was much good "crack"... in the edition of "Country Magazine" which covered Northern Ireland;^[6] or from 1955, the Duke pulled the bolt on the door of the piggery, and let Coogan's old sow out...The Duke had been sitting on top of Kelly's gate watching the crack.^[7] 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^[8] and Jennifer Johnston (1977): I'm sorry if I muscled in on Saturday. Did I spoil your crack? ^[9]. Scots may refer to: people from Scotland (i. ... Mid Ulster English (Ulster Anglo-Irish) is the dialect of most people in Ulster, including those in the two main cities. ... This article is about the Anglic language of Scotland. ... The Irish Independent is Irelands best-selling daily newspaper. ... This article is about the nine-county Irish province. ... Brian Friel (born 9 January 1929) is a playwright and director from Northern Ireland. ... Jennifer Johnston is an Irish novelist. ...

In Newcastle upon Tyne there is a listings magazine called The Crack. This article is about a city in the United Kingdom. ... A listings magazine is a magazine which contains information about the upcoming weeks events such as TV Listings, Music, Clubs, Theatre and Film information, examples include Time Out magazine in the UK. These are normally published either with a Saturday or Sunday newspaper or are published weekly to give information... The Crack magazine is a style and listings magazine. ...

Spelling

Like many other words over the centuries, 'crack' was borrowed into the Irish language with a Gaelicized spelling ('craic'). It is attested from a 1968 newspaper advertisement.^[10]This was popularized in the catchphrase 'Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn' ('We'll have music, chat and craic'), used by Seán Bán Breathnach for his Irish-language chatshow SBB ina Shuí, broadcast on RTÉ from 1976 to 83. 'Craic' has recently come to be displayed on Irish-language hand-lettered signs outside many pubs, and subsequently the Irish spelling has been 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" does not use the Irish-language spelling. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... This article is about the modern Goidelic language. ... Irish orthography has a reputation as being very difficult to learn and bearing only a tenuous relationship to the pronunciation. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually by an identified sponsor. ... A catch phrase is a phrase or expression that is popularized, usually through repeated use, by a real person or fictional character. ... Seán Bán Breathnach (known in the Republic of Ireland as SBB) is a television and radio broadcaster and personality in the Republic of Ireland. ... A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit. ... Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ; Irish for Radio and Television of Ireland) is the national publicly-funded broadcaster of Ireland. ... Pub redirects here. ... Reborrowing is the process where a word travels from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form or with a different meaning. ...

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). Frank McNally of The Irish Times has said of the word: 'Most Irish people now have no idea it's foreign.'^[11] This article is about the term in linguistics. ... Polysemy (from the Greek πολυσημεία = multiple meaning) is the capacity for a sign to have multiple meanings. ... It has been suggested that Irish Times Trust be merged into this article or section. ...

Criticism of the spelling "craic"

The spelling craic has attracted some criticism. Diarmaid Ó Muirithe has written:^[12]

Fintan Vallely condemned craic in his Companion to Irish Traditional Music,^[13] and elaborated via an open letter to an internet forum:^[14] Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic politically divided between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. ... A typical Internet forum discussion, with common elements such as quotes and spoiler brackets A page from a forum showcasing emoticons and Internet slang An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. ...

Other critics have accused the Irish tourism industry and the promoters of Irish theme pubs of marketing 'commodified craic' as a kind of stereotypical Irishness.^[15] Destinations Armagh - ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland. ... ...

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. Mid Ulster English (Ulster Anglo-Irish) is the dialect of most people in Ulster, including those in the two main cities. ... A pile of crack cocaine ‘rocks’. Crack cocaine is a solid, smokeable form of cocaine and is a highly addictive drug popular for its intense psychoactive high. ...

References

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.c
2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.b
3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.a
4. ^ "Crack, Craic" from Hiberno-English dictionary
5. ^ "Crak" from the Dictionary of the Scots Language
6. ^ Sweeney, Maxwell. "Radio review", Irish Independent, 1950-12-02, p. 5. 
7. ^ "Francis". "Over the Fields: Life, Day by Day on an Ulster Farm", Irish Independent, 1955-08-13, p. 7. 
8. ^ Brian Friel: Translations
9. ^ Jennifer Johnston: Shadows on Our Skin
10. ^ "TEACH FURBO: AG OSCAILT ANOCHT: CEOL AGUS CRAIC", Connacht Sentinel, 1968-07-30, p. 5. (Irish) 
11. ^ McNally, Frank (2005). Xenophobe's Guide to the Irish. London: Oval, p.19. ISBN 1-902825-33-0. 
12. ^ Ó Muirithe, Diarmaid. "The Words We Use", The Irish Times, 1992-12-05, p. 27. ; reprinted in Ó Muirithe, Diarmaid (October 2006). The Words We Use. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, pp.154–5. ISBN 9780717140800. 
13. ^ Vallely, Fintan (1999). Companion to Irish Traditional Music. New York: NYU Press. ISBN 0814788025. 
14. ^ Vallely, Fintan (2004-12-01). The ultimate case sticker (and seisiún vs session): Stop the press!. thesession.org. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.
15. ^ 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, p.91. ISBN 1-873150-54-7.