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Craic (/ k r æ k / KRAK) or crack is a term for news, gossip, fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland. [1] [2] [3] It is often used with the definite article – the craic [1] – as in the expression "What's the craic?", meaning "How are you?"
The exact history and origin of the term is debated. [7] According to one theory, it is an agent noun derived from the verb crack, meaning "to boast". [8] The use of cracker to mean "braggart" dates back to the 16th century and can be seen for example in William Shakespeare's King John (c. 1595): "What cracker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?"
The term cracker was in use during the Elizabethan era to describe braggarts and blowhards. The original root of this is the Middle English word crack, meaning "entertaining conversation" (which survives as a verb, as in "to crack a joke"); the noun in the Gaelicized spelling craic also retains currency in Ireland and to some extent in Scotland and Northern England, in a sense of 'fun' or ...
Sláinte, Banjaxed, Stall the ball? Anyone can wear green on Saint Patrick's Day, but do you know what these Irish words mean and how to say them?
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Yes, the change from crack to craic in Irish is natural, but the change from the English "crack" to the gaelicised form "craic" in English usage in Ireland is a very unusual thing, and seems to coincide with a belief that the word expresses something intangibly peculiar to Irish culture (and maybe it does, but the use of an Irish spelling in ...
(from síbín meaning "a mugful") unlicensed house selling alcohol (OED). shillelagh (from sail éille meaning "a club with a strap") a wooden club or cudgel made from a stout knotty stick with a large knob on the end. Sidhe (Irish pronunciation:) the fairy folk of Ireland, from (aos) sídhe (OED). See banshee. sleveen, sleiveen
Ulster English, [1] also called Northern Hiberno-English or Northern Irish English, is the variety of English spoken mostly around the Irish province of Ulster and throughout Northern Ireland. The dialect has been influenced by the local Ulster dialect of the Scots language , brought over by Scottish settlers during the Plantation of Ulster and ...