Irish people are always talking about the “Crack”, when you arrive here you will hear that word often. People might ask you; “What’s the Crack?”, “How’s the Crack” or even “How was the Crack last night!?”. They are not talking about drugs… necessarily. When you hear Irish people use that word, more often than not it is not the one you think. Most of the time Irish people will be talking about the “Craic“. it might seem like nothing but its an important distinction!
The word Craic has no real translation into English. Its is essentially a good time. The question; “Whats the craic?” is the Irish equivalent of being asked; “What’s up?” in American English. So while you are in Ireland, please feel free to head up to any member of the Irish police force (An Garda Síochana) and ask where to find some craic. It will probably work out just fine.
This term can cause a lot of confusion among new visitors to the country and understandably so. Especially when people like to describe exactly how good or bad the craic was the previous evening. The craic is rarely good, its “savage”, or “mighty”. If someone is no fun though, they might just be the “anti-craic”! Don’t be them.
Another common expression in Ireland though describes the best possible craic. The superlative form of this term is “90”. If the wedding you went to last night was the best part you have ever seen and you had the time of your life, then the “craic was 90 last night”. This is not a scale however. Saying that the craic was 72 just comes across as strange.
This was said best by the famous folk musician, Christie Moore:
This is how I feel you should approach your stay in Ireland. Go out and have the “Craic”
There are few things that you really MUST see while you’re in the country. But the best way to enjoy the place is to go out and meet its people, embrace the atmosphere the Island has and have the “Craic”!