SO, What is “ The Craic”
Ireland's funny side gets a thorough examination just for The Craic.
This is a question that has been asked by many people, for a very long time!
The answer however, despite much debate, remains to this day a subject of the hottest contention.
In this article, I will endeavour to answer this seemingly simple question.
Shrouded in mystery, The Craic is a uniquely Irish phenomena.
So lets start there, with the Irish.
To understand The Craic on any serious level, we first need to have a little understanding of the Irish. This alone, is enough to begin to create an air of confusion, that will doggedly frustrate any non Irish persons attempts, at gaining insight into this elusive subject.
Ireland is a very beautiful country, of this there is little doubt. Its people are widely regarded as kindly, open and sociable folk and its scenery breathtaking. However Ireland is also one of the wettest countries in the world.
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/ireland-weekend-weather-forecast-dublin-12441950
Often the blue sky is missing for weeks at a time, with barely a chink of sunlight penetrating the deep grey clouds in the winter months, while the daylight hours shrink back, rapidly from September until May. As you can imagine, depression and anxiety run high among the inhabitants of such a bleak environ, however the Irish are a resilient lot. They strive to keep away the blues using specially blended whiskeys, stouts and a deep sense of humour that's impossible to break.
https://www.pinterest.ie/tasteireland/irish-jokes/
Most Irish people, the majority of whom are amateur meteorologists, will agree that the further west you traverse in Ireland, the darker and deeper the grey of the sky becomes. The rain fall gets heavier. Its periods more prolonged and the rates of depression / anxiety run higher.
Further to that point, most Irish people will also agree, that the more westerly you dare to venture on the island, the more intensely that the phenomenon they call The Craic, will be felt.
There is certainly a direct correlation here that it would be foolish to ignore in any reasonable debate about The Craic, and certainly therein lies the key to understanding “ The Craic”
So if, in its very simplest form, The Craic can be understood as “having fun to beat the winter blues”, we can begin to examine and consider the multitude and varying levels of The Craic.
To begin with we have,
Good Craic, Decent Craic, Great Craic, Deadly Craic, Brilliant Craic and Savage Craic.
These are basically all appraisals of the strength of The Craic at any given moment in time. Starting with Good Craic to mean, everything is OK and I'm not unhappy, The Craic level can increase right up to Savage Craic, which means that The Craic, well, its almost as good as The Craic can be.
Added to any of these levels of The Craic, can be the word “altogether”.
To say “That was Savage Craic altogether” would mean that The Craic was a little bit better than Savage Craic, but still not quite as much Craic as The Craic can be.
When The Craic is as good as The Craic can possibly be, the only correct term to use is
“The Craic was Ninety”
People unfamiliar with The Craic, upon first hearing that “The Craic is Ninety somewhere” should beware. They should approach the situation with extreme caution. This is serious Craic ( more on Serious Craic later) Bring a change of clothes, a sleeping bag and some Tramadol. Leaving all valuables behind in a safe place, approach the scene of The Craic with a positive and open mind.
When The Craic is Ninety in Ireland, quite literally, almost anything, can and will happen.
Somehow as if of cellular instinct perhaps, all Irish people become immediately aware at the exact same moment that the Craic has reached “90” somewhere in the island.
Almost immediately alcohol will begin flowing freely for an extended period of time, quite possibly at no cost or expense to its consumers. It means normal rules don't apply, and all bets are off.
You can expect 48 hrs of things like random power outages and public transport will cease to run on time, if at all.
This scenario is understood by all Irish employers and nobody will be at work the next day.
Following on from The Craic being Ninety, we can then begin to look at negative or minus Craic
No Craic, Bad Craic, Awful Craic, Terrible Craic, Shite Craic and Zero Craic.
Again these negative levels of The Craic, can also be appended by the use of the word altogether.
With No Craic being an unhappy situation like having a cold or flu
and with Zero Craic altogether, being basically as low as things can possibly get.
*Added to all of these levels of The Craic, there are many other colloquial forms of Craic that you might encounter...
Gas Craic, The Finesh Craic, Horrd Craic, Fierce Craic and Mighty Craic are but a few of the lesser known and again, adding the word altogether, increases or decreases, the strength of The Craic. These peculiarities of The Craic are most often found in the midland region of Ireland and in some parts of deep west Cork and Kerry.
Ok, all ye guys still with me ?
Because this is where it starts to get really complicated.
This basic, but far from fully informed, description of the fundamental levels of The Craic, does little or nothing to help the average person, untangle and escape from the multitude of questions and the variety of statements, that the words “ The Craic” are likely to feature in, during any trip to Ireland.
For instance, an Irish man or woman upon first meeting you, may well greet you by saying
What's The Craic? This is a very commonly used greeting and many the visitor to Ireland has come home flummoxed at the meaning of this seemingly innocuous question. Truthfully this is one of the least complicated instance of the use of The Craic in vernacular speech.
If its your first time in Ireland this can be deeply confusing.
In the next few paragraphs, I will attempt to use The Craic as any Irish man or Woman may use it in conversation. I'm doing this in order to provide you with examples of The Craic's many intricacies.
So the Craic is that The Craic can have as many different meanings, as it has potential responses.
The Craic could very well be, that “What's The Craic” is meant as just a simple Hi or Hello.
This Craic very often, will prove to be the normal Craic.
However, The Craic is also, that with a barely perceptible flick of the head or even just a raised eyebrow, The Craic's entire meaning and The Craic's implications can vary wildly.
This Craic is what's known as Mad Craic then, when The Craic gets really confusing.
The Craic could be, that someone asking you What's The Craic” could very well be a serious question. It Could be that this use of The Craic was perhaps intended as judgement on the present company you are keeping!!!
As in, what's The Craic, why did you bring this person, along with you, they're no Craic, tell them to go home. All of this Craic being implied, by the flick of an eye in the general direction of the offending person...
Complicated Craic altogether eh ?
What's the Craic?, could also mean, What's The Craic? why are you an hour late?.
However, The Craic is also, that depending heavily on the position of the bottom lip, This type of Craic could also just as easily mean,
“Look The Craic is, that I'm really sorry for being an hour late, there was mad Craic last night.
The real Craic is that The Craic can actually mean any number of things that you “feel” like expressing without “actually” expressing. And this is where it gets crazy.
The Key word here is feel. Although “ The Craic is used widely as a Noun, a Verb and an Adjective, its really an expression of the underlying emotional state or a question about yours.
If during a visit to Ireland, you feel like you are experiencing The Craic, then you probably are. Go with it and have fun doing it, Grab a fiddle and jump in.
However if your not feeling The Craic, its probably best avoiding all people who do seem to be feeling or having The Craic, as tensions can escalate quickly if anything disturbs The Craic.
So as you start to see in the examples above, The Craic, is not a simple concept at all.
Its deeply ingrained into the Irish Psyche. Its something that not even Irish people can explain very accurately, although It's Great Craic altogether to try. Its more of an ethereal thing, an emotional thing. One thing is for sure though if you visit Ireland you will certainly find the Craic alive and well. The Craic can even be found outside or Ireland, among groups of Irish people if you look hard enough, however, That said though, the Craic can never get much better than the level of Great Craic once outside of Ireland.
From a historic perspective, its generally believed that the last time The Craic reached 90 in Ireland was during the Italia90 World cup soccer tournaments in the summer of 1990. Some video footage of the surrounding events was captured and is available to view on Youtube.
No records exist of the Craic ever having reached 90 outside of Ireland, however strong rumours have persisted for a number of years, about an event in the Isle Of Man in the late 1970's where The Craic may or may not have possibly been 90 however it wasn't felt on the Island of Ireland by the general public.
No one involved has any clear recollection though with all six involved being involved, deported from the Island shortly after.
So that's The Craic then so.....
Great Craic Altogether...