Is that what she said? Did my sweet little Irish friend mention doing CRACK with me in Ireland? I mean, at times in my life I've been up for all sorts of various pleasantries, but CRACK? Huh?
Surely this couldn't be what she meant. So, instead of making a complete fool of myself by asking if she had actually thrown out the suggestion of us becoming drug addicts together on the green isle, I decided to do the reasonable thing and toss the words "crack" and "Ireland" into a Google search.
What I found certainly aided in the interpretation of my friend's exclamation that "There's lots of good crack to be had." First of all, it's not "crack" (what a surprise, I know). It's CRAIC. This is an increasingly common Gaelic word used in modern Ireland to the point that it's apparently becoming nearly epidemic. CRAIC is defined in a variety of ways, but according to the research I've come up with so far, no Irish person will offer a direct translation. The closest thing that it seems most folks agree on is something like this:
"CRAIC includes, but is not limited to, fun and/or enjoyment mixed with alcohol and/or music experienced among friends and/or the people you happen to be with at the time of the occurrence of the craic."
Therefore, as someone who has been to Ireland and skipped freely across her green pastures, as someone who has sang and danced with her citizens to fiddles and flutes among pints of Guinness in a dark and warm wooden pub, and as someone who while running in the rain through the streets of Dublin happened to have had the happiest moment of her entire life while being completely aware in the moment that she was having the happiest moment of her entire life… Well, it seems to me that CRAIC means Ireland.
(By the way, I can't wait to get myself a "CRAIC HEAD" T-shirt in Ireland. Sure you can order it online right here: http://www.cafepress.com/madireland/2132905, but wouldn't you rather actually buy it in Ireland? Of course you would.)
