Craic

Craic or crack is a term for fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland.^[1][2] It is often used with the definite article – the craic.^[1] The word has an interesting history; the form craic was borrowed into Irish from the English crack in the mid-20th century, and the Irish spelling was then reborrowed into English.^[1] Under either spelling, the craic has great cultural currency and significance in Ireland.

Origin and history

An older, related, more widespread, sense of crack is "joke", as in crack a joke or wise-crack.^[3] Another sense of crack, found in northern Britain, is "news, gossip",^[4] 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?" The context involving 'news' and 'gossip' originated in Northern English^[5] and the Scots language.^[6] This sense entered into Hiberno-English from the Ulster Scots dialect in Northern Ireland, some time in the mid-20th century.^[1] 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;^[7] 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.^[8] 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^[9] and Jennifer Johnston (1977): I'm sorry if I muscled in on Saturday. Did I spoil your crack? ^[10].

Like many other words over the centuries, 'crack' was borrowed into the Irish language with the Gaelicized spelling craic.^[1] It was in use as early as the 1960s,^[11] and 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 1982.^[1][12][13] The Irish spelling was soon reborrowed into English, and is attested in publications from the 1970s and '80s.^[1] Craic has also been used in Scottish Gaelic since at least the 1990s, though it is unknown if it was borrowed directly from Irish or from English.^[1]

At first the craic form was uncommon outside of 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.^[14] However, The Dubliners' 2006 version adopts the Irish spelling.^[15] 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."^[16]

Criticism of the spelling "craic"

The spelling craic has attracted some criticism. English 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."^[17] 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-themed pubs to make money through the commercialisation of traditional Irish music.^[18] 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.^[19]

References

External links

Look up crack in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up craic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.