Craic

The word crack is derived from the Middle English crak, meaning "loud conversation, bragging talk".Dolan, T. P. (2006). A Dictionary of Hiberno-English. Gill & MacMillan. p. 64. {{ISBN|978-0-7171-4039-8}} A sense of crack found in Northern England and Scotland meaning "conversation" or "news"Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.a produces expressions such as "What's the crack?",Else, David (2007). British Language and Culture. Lonely Planet. p. 191. {{ISBN|978-1-86450-286-2}} meaning "how are you?" or "have you any news?", similar to "what's up?", "how's it going?", or "what's the word?" in other regions. The context involving "news" and "gossip" originated in Northern English[http://www.hiberno-english.com/comment.php?id=688 "Crack, Craic" from Hiberno-English dictionary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121193606/http://www.hiberno-english.com/comment.php?id=688 |date=21 November 2007 }} and Scots.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/getent4.php?plen=5602&startset=10071840&query=Crak&fhit=crak&dregion=form&dtext=dost#fhit |title="Crak" from the Dictionary of the Scots Language |access-date=27 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013133913/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/getent4.php?plen=5602&startset=10071840&query=Crak&fhit=crak&dregion=form&dtext=dost#fhit |archive-date=13 October 2013 |url-status=live }} A book on the speech of Northern England published in 1825 equates crack with "chat, conversation, news".Brockett, John Trotter (1825). [https://archive.org/details/glossaryofnor00broc A Glossary of North Country Words, In Use. From An Original Manuscript, With Additions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012191300/https://archive.org/details/glossaryofnor00broc |date=12 October 2014 }}. E. Charnley. p. 47 The term is recorded in Scotland with this sense as far back as the 16th century, with both Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns employing it in the 1770s and 1780s.{{cite web|url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/crak_n|title=Dictionary of the Scots Language :: DOST :: Crak n.|access-date=27 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127214956/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/crak_n|archive-date=27 November 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/crack_n1|title=Dictionary of the Scots Language :: SND :: Crack n.1|access-date=27 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127220015/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/crack_n1|archive-date=27 November 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/crack_v|title=Dictionary of the Scots Language :: SND :: Crack v.|access-date=27 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127215814/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/crack_v|archive-date=27 November 2016|url-status=live}}

The Scottish song "The Wark o The Weavers", which dates back to the early part of the 19th century, published by David Shaw, who died in 1856, has the opening line "We're a' met thegither here tae sit an tae crack, Wi oor glesses in oor hands...."{{cite book|last1=Buchan|first1=Norman|title=101 Scottish Songs: The Wee Red Book|date=1962|publisher=Collins}}{{cite web|url=http://chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/work-weavers.html |work=chivalry.com |title=Work Weavers |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117035235/http://chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/work-weavers.html |archive-date=17 November 2012 }} A collection of folk songs from Cumberland published in 1865 refers to villagers "enjoying their crack".Gilpin, Sidney (1865). [https://archive.org/details/songsballadsofcu00gilp The Songs and Ballads of Cumberland : To Which Are Added The Best Poems In the Dialect; With Biographical Sketches, Notes, & Glossary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160612131438/https://archive.org/details/songsballadsofcu00gilp |date=12 June 2016 }} G. Coward. p. 185. "Crack" is prominent in Cumbrian dialect and everyday Cumbrian usage (including the name of an online local newspaper), with the meaning "gossip".{{cite web|title=The Cumbrian Dictionary|url=http://www.cumbriandictionary.co.uk/#C|website=the Cumbrian Dictionary|access-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105224617/http://www.cumbriandictionary.co.uk/#C|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Cumbrian Crack|url=https://www.cumbriacrack.com/|website=Cumbrian Crack|access-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105201625/https://www.cumbriacrack.com/|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live}} A glossary of Lancashire terms and phrases published in 1869 lists crack as meaning "chat",Morris, James P. (1869) [https://archive.org/details/aglossarywordsa00morrgoog A Glossary of the Words and Phrases of Furness (North Lancashire)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307211127/https://archive.org/details/aglossarywordsa00morrgoog |date=7 March 2016 }}. J. Russell Smith. p. 22 as does a book on the local culture of Edinburgh published in the same year.Chambers, Robert (1869). [https://archive.org/details/traditionsofedin00cham/page/171 Traditions of Edinburgh by Robert Chambers]. W & R. Chambers. p. 171 Glossaries of the dialects of Yorkshire (1878), Cheshire (1886), and Northumberland (1892) equate crack variously with "conversation", "gossip", and "talk".Castillo, John (1878). [https://archive.org/details/poemsinnorthyork00castrich Poems in the North Yorkshire Dialect] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307151711/https://archive.org/details/poemsinnorthyork00castrich |date=7 March 2016 }}. p. 64Holland, Robert (1886). [https://archive.org/details/glossaryofwordsu16holluoft A Glossary of Words Used In the County of Chester] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731202302/https://archive.org/details/glossaryofwordsu16holluoft |date=31 July 2016 }}. Trübner. p. 84Haldane, Harry (1892). [https://archive.org/details/northumberlandw00heslgoog Northumberland Words] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160612121152/https://archive.org/details/northumberlandw00heslgoog |date=12 June 2016 }}. K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. p. 192. These senses of the term entered Hiberno-English from Scots through Ulster at some point in the mid-20th century and were then borrowed into Irish.

The Dictionary of the Scots Language records use of the term in Ulster in 1929. Other 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";{{cite news |work=Irish Independent |title=Radio review |first=Maxwell |last=Sweeney |date=2 December 1950 |page=5 }} or from 1955, "The Duke had been sitting on top of Kelly's gate watching the crack."{{cite news |work=Irish Independent |title=Over the Fields: Life, Day by Day on an Ulster Farm |author=Francis |date=13 August 1955 |page=7 }} At this time the word was, in Ireland, associated with Ulster dialects: in 1964 linguist John Braidwood said of the term, "perhaps one of the most seemingly native Ulster words is crack.... In fact the word is of English and Scots origin."Braidwood, John, "Ulster and Elizabethan English" in Ulster Dialects: An Introductory Symposium (1964) Ulster Folk Museum, p. 99. It can frequently be found in the work of 20th century Ulster writers such as Flann O'Brien (1966) "You say you'd like a joke or two for a bit of crack."Myles na gCopaleen: Best of Myles and Brian Friel (1980): "You never saw such crack in your life, boys".Brian Friel: Translations

Crack was borrowed into the Irish language with the Gaelicized spelling craic. It has been used in Irish since at least 1968,See, for example, this newspaper advertisement: {{cite news |title=TEACH FURBO: AG OSCAILT ANOCHT: CEOL AGUS CRAIC |work=Connacht Sentinel |page=5 |date=30 July 1968 |language=Irish }} and was popularised 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 1982.

{{cite news |title=The Week Ahead |last=Boylan |first=Philip |date=23 October 1977 |work=Sunday Independent |page=2 |quote=Friday, RTÉ, 5.30: 'SBB na Shui' [sic] is a new half-hour series with the star of Radio na Gaeltachta, Sean Ban Breathnach, in the chair presenting music, serious discussion and yarns, i.e., ceol, caint agus craic.}}{{cite news |title=Television topics |last=Moore |first=Richard |date=11 July 1981 |work=Meath Chronicle |page=20 |quote="Ceoil, caint agus craic" is how Mr. Breathnach introduces the programme.}} The Irish spelling was soon reborrowed into English, and is attested in publications from the 1970s and 1980s. Craic has also been used in Scottish Gaelic since at least the early 1990s, though it is unknown if it was borrowed directly from Irish or from English.

At first the craic form was uncommon outside Irish, even in an Irish context. Barney Rush's 1960s song "The Crack Was Ninety in the Isle of Man" does not use the Irish-language spelling, neither is it used in Christy Moore's 1978 version.{{cite web|url=http://www.christymoore.com/lyrics_tabs_detail.php?id=16 |title=lyrics: Crack Was Ninety In The Isle of Man |publisher=Christy Moore, official website |access-date=18 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117033222/http://www.christymoore.com/lyrics_tabs_detail.php?id=16 |archive-date=17 November 2007 }} However, The Dubliners' 2006 version adopts the Irish spelling.{{cite AV media notes |title= Too Late to Stop Now: The Very Best of the Dubliners|title-link= Too Late to Stop Now: The Very Best of the Dubliners|others= The Dubliners|year=2006 |publisher= DMG TV}} The title of Four to the Bar's 1994 concert album, Craic on the Road, uses the Irish-language spelling as an English-language pun,Four to the Bar: Craic on the Road as does Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain's 2012 show Craic Dealer.{{cite web|last=Richardson|first=Jay|title=Review - Dara O'Briain: Craic Dealer|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/live/jay_richardson/dara_obriain_craic_dealer_review/|work=British Comedy Guide|date=18 October 2012 |access-date=28 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305154233/http://www.comedy.co.uk/live/jay_richardson/dara_obriain_craic_dealer_review/|archive-date=5 March 2014|url-status=live}}

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, "[m]ost Irish people now have no idea it's foreign."{{cite book|title=Xenophobe's Guide to the Irish|last=McNally|first=Frank|year=2005|location=London|isbn=1-902825-33-0|publisher=Oval|page=19}}

The craic spelling has attracted criticism when used in English. English-language specialist Diarmaid Ó Muirithe wrote in his Irish Times column "The Words We Use" that "the constant Gaelicisation of the good old English-Scottish dialect word crack as craic sets my teeth on edge".{{cite news |title=The Words We Use |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=27 |date=5 December 1992 |first=Diarmaid |last=Ó Muirithe }}; reprinted in {{cite book |title=The Words We Use |first=Diarmaid |last=Ó Muirithe |pages=154–5 |date=October 2006 |isbn=978-0-7171-4080-0 |publisher=Gill & Macmillan |location=Dublin}} Writing for the Irish Independent, Irish journalist Kevin Myers criticised the craic spelling as "pseudo-Gaelic" and a "bogus neologism".{{cite news | url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-the-day-of-indulgence-is-done-the-time-of-duty-has-arrived-2108890.html | work=Irish Independent | title=Kevin Myers: The day of indulgence is done – the time of duty has arrived | date=24 March 2010 | access-date=13 March 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023170245/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-the-day-of-indulgence-is-done-the-time-of-duty-has-arrived-2108890.html | archive-date=23 October 2012 | url-status=live }} Other linguists have referred to the craic form as "fake Irish".Momma, Haruko, Matto, Michael (2009). A Companion to the History of the English Language. John Wiley & Sons Inc. p. 371. {{ISBN|978-1444302868}}

"The craic" has become a part of Irish culture. In a 2001 review of the modern Irish information economy, information sciences professor Eileen M. Trauth called "craic" an intrinsic part of the culture of sociability that distinguished the Irish workplace from those of other countries.Trauth, p. 147. Trauth wrote that even as Ireland transitioned away from an economy and society dominated by agriculture, the traditional importance of atmosphere and the art of conversation – "craic" – remains, and that the social life is a fundamental part of workers' judgment of quality of life.Trauth, pp. 149–150.

Critics have accused the Irish tourism industry and the promoters of Irish theme pubs of marketing "commodified craic" as a kind of stereotypical Irishness.McGovern 2002, p. 91 In his Companion to Irish Traditional Music, Fintan Vallely suggests that use of craic in English is largely an exercise on the part of Irish pubs to make money through the commercialisation of traditional Irish music.{{cite book |title=Companion to Irish Traditional Music |isbn=0-8147-8802-5 |last=Vallely |first=Fintan |year=1999 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York| page=91}} Likewise, Donald Clarke in The Irish Times associates the change of spelling to craic with the rebranding of the Irish pub as a tourist attraction during the 1990s.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/who-will-set-us-free-of-the-bogus-irishness-of-craic-1.1438746|title=Who will set us free of the bogus Irishness of craic?|last=Clarke|first=Donald|date=22 June 2013|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=22 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623034455/http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/who-will-set-us-free-of-the-bogus-irishness-of-craic-1.1438746|archive-date=23 June 2013|url-status=live}}

• Language contact
• List of English words of Irish origin and Irish words used in English

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web| title = Irish Slang | publisher = Irish Slang | url = http://www.irishslang.info/}}
• {{cite book | title = Oxford English Dictionary | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = http://dictionary.oed.com.dax.lib.unf.edu/ }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• The New Comprehensive Dictionary of The English Language (c. 1920). Newnes (London) and Chambers (Edinburgh).
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927) Focloir Gaedhilge agus Bearla. Dublin: Irish Texts Society.
• {{cite journal|last=McGovern|first=Mark|editor=Michael Cronin and Barbara O'Connor|title='The Cracked Pint Glass of the Servant': the Irish Pub, Irish Identity, and the Tourist Eye|journal=Irish Tourism: Image, Culture and Identity|year=2003|pages=83–103|location=Clevedon|isbn=1-873150-54-7|publisher=Channel View|doi=10.21832/9781873150559-006}}
• {{Cite journal |last=McGovern |year=2002 |first=Mark |title=The 'Craic' Market: Irish Theme Bars and the Commodification of Irishness in Contemporary Britain |journal=Irish Journal of Sociology |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=77–98 |doi=10.1177/079160350201100205 |s2cid=148857896 }}
• {{cite book |title= The Culture of an Information Economy|last= Trauth|first= Eileen M.|year= 2001|publisher= Springer|isbn= 1-4020-0396-X|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oqfJ4AxI9sMC|access-date=6 April 2010}}

Category:English words

Category:English-language slang

Category:Culture of Ireland

Category:Irish words and phrases

Category:Scottish words and phrases