Craic (/kræk/ KRAK) or crack is a term for news, gossip, fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland.
The word crack is derived from the Middle English crak, meaning "loud conversation, bragging talk".
[8] A book on the speech of Northern England published in 1825 equates crack with "chat, conversation, news".
[10][11][12] 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...."[13][14] A collection of folk songs from Cumberland published in 1865 refers to villagers "enjoying their crack".
[19] Glossaries of the dialects of Yorkshire (1878), Cheshire (1886), and Northumberland (1892) equate crack variously with "conversation", "gossip", and "talk".
[20][21][22] 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.
"[25] 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.
[1] 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.
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.
[39] 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.