# Translating Italian into English: what does "il crac" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627 "2017-10-23T13:07:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/1 "2017-10-23T13:07:19Z")
Trying to translate the headline of [this article](http://www.repubblica.it/sport/vari/2017/10/23/news/nfl_il_crac_dei_quarterback_ma_brady_e_una_sicurezza-179099437/): **Nfl, il crac dei quarterback, ma Brady è una sicurezza** “Crac” looks like it is borrowed into Italian. I am assuming it comes from English “crack” or maybe something similar in German. But what would “il crac” mean in this context? (Yes … I tried Google Translate. It just threw up its hands at “crac” 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/2 "2017-10-23T13:14:54Z")
Googling it (rather than using Google Translate) has it as “crash” and further googling says that Tom Brady was in a car crash last month, so I assume it’s about that. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/3 "2017-10-23T14:07:15Z")
I’m watching\* Los Cuervos\* now, a comedy from Netflix on a Mexican soccer team (as we say it in US); they call someone or other he is ‘crack’" to say he’s the bestest, The Man. Presumably from the name of the drug. I can’t remember if it was used only to describe the sportsmen. If so, based on OP, maybe that’s the milieu. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/4 "2017-10-23T14:17:34Z")
In English “crack” can have many meanings. In the OP’s quote I suggest that it is used to mean highly trained and competent - _Even a crack team of investigators would have trouble solving this case._ I see in Wiktionary the Spanish meaning as _“excellent sportsman”_ [crack - Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crack#Noun_5) “Crack” as a slang term for the drug comes from earlier slang, crack-headed meant “crazy” (1796), from the literal sense of crack. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/5 "2017-10-23T14:29:45Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > … > > “Crack” as a slang term for the drug comes from earlier slang, crack-headed meant “crazy” (1796), from the literal sense of crack. My understanding is that it comes from the crazing of the crystalline product. Ie, cracking. Nice etymological pile-up there on why “crazing” is the word for the crack patterns in materials, though. But **bob++**'s pointing out of “crack team of…” is good. Odd that I (and OP) found it so difficult at first to have it make sense as a loan word. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/6 "2017-10-23T14:43:44Z")
The Spanish meaning doesn’t make sense in context. It would be “NFL, the best of quarterbacks”… doesn’t fit. Looking at the subtitle, I see they’re talking about a very bad weekend for quarterbacks (_una altra domenica nera per i qb_: another Black Sunday for QBs). So, in this case _crac_ refers to a crash, a bad hit, a day when you really really wish you had stayed in bed. > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’m watching\* Los Cuervos\* now, a comedy from Netflix on a Mexican soccer team (as we say it in US); they call someone or other he is ‘crack’" to say he’s the bestest, The Man. Presumably from the name of the drug. It’s a reference to “breaking the net”: scoring a goal that the goalie had no chance of stopping. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/7 "2017-10-23T14:49:15Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’m watching\* Los Cuervos\* now, a comedy from Netflix on a Mexican soccer team (as we say it in US); they call someone or other he is ‘crack’" to say he’s the bestest, The Man. Presumably from the name of the drug. It’s a reference to “breaking the net” (scoring a goal that the goalie had no chance of stopping) and to “cracking the defenses”. The term was originally reserved for _arietes_ (rams), excuse me, forwards. It’s older than the drug. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/8 "2017-10-23T15:00:06Z")
**Nava** , yet again you prove why I want you to hang out and watch Spanish TV with me. Man that show in particular is non-stop foul language. ---
**Author:** ![CeleTheRef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@CeleTheRef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CeleTheRef)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/9 "2017-10-23T21:33:09Z")
a “crac”/“crack” in Italian means “failure, ruin”. it usually mean a financial ruin, but in this case the title means that QBs did very poorly this week. for reference, the boardgame Go For Broke! in Italian is titled “Crack!” because the goal is to ruin yourself. > **[Crack! (MB Giochi Italian edition 1993) | Board Game Version | BoardGameGeek](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameversion/86836/mb-giochi-italian-edition-1993)** > > L'emozione di vinceri perdendo "una fortuna!" - Crack! is the Italian edition of Go For Broke, published by MB in 1993. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/10 "2017-10-24T11:05:27Z")
Hijack: last year, one of my colleagues at the high school where I teach was a French woman. She told me about the first time she had ever watched a Montreal Expos game on TV. Even though the broadcast was in French, she said she hardly understood a word, because the announcers used all kinds of “French” words that were either: 1. Specially made up just for the game of baseball, which she knew little about at the time, or 2. Franglais- English words gussied up to sound French. I’d guess most foreign broadcasts of American sports are filled with words and phrases that wouldn’t make much sense to people unfamiliar with both the English language and the sport. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/11 "2017-10-24T13:16:18Z")
Well, yeah, in Spanish most terms from those sports are either preserved or transliterated: a home run is a _jonrón_ and things like that. The more a sport actually gets played in our own lands, the more likely it’s to either get translations or transliterations; if people have only heard of them in movies the terms d’art are more likely to be preserved. One that’s apropos: in articles or reports about actual American Football, the quarterback is the quarterback, which whatever article the actual language happens to use. Or, as in that Italian article, qb for short 🙂 In those teen movies (you know, those) they get translated as _capitán_. The general Hispanic audience is expected to know that being captain of a sports team is important, but not to have any inkling what a quarterback is or does. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/12 "2017-10-24T14:18:47Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > In those teen movies (you know, those) they get translated as _capitán_. The general Hispanic audience is expected to know that being captain of a sports team is important, but not to have any inkling what a quarterback is or does. But the quarterback is only 1/4 of a back. The fullback, otoh, is 100% back, so he should be the captain. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/13 "2017-10-24T15:49:34Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Hijack: last year, one of my colleagues at the high school where I teach was a French woman. She told me about the first time she had ever watched a Montreal Expos game on TV. Even though the broadcast was in French, she said she hardly understood a word, because the announcers used all kinds of “French” words that were either: > > 1. Specially made up just for the game of baseball, which she knew little about at the time, or > > 2. Franglais- English words gussied up to sound French. > I’d guess most foreign broadcasts of American sports are filled with words and phrases that wouldn’t make much sense to people unfamiliar with both the English language and the sport. I used to have a list of French baseball terms handy for watching the Expos, but I lost it years ago. Anyway it’s not really useful since they are now the Nationals. The one I remember: an inning is “une manche”. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/14 "2017-10-24T18:08:10Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I used to have a list of French baseball terms handy for watching the Expos, but I lost it years ago. Anyway it’s not really useful since they are now the Nationals. > > The one I remember: an inning is “une manche”. My favorite was _l’arrêt-court_ – the shortstop 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/15 "2017-10-24T19:10:32Z")
And then there’s Irish \*craic \*(pronounced roughly “crack”), meaning “fun,” used by many Irish when speaking English, even if they don’t know much Irish. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/16 "2017-10-24T19:20:21Z")
Garzanti says “rovina, fallimento; crollo: crac finanziario,” which would render your headline as: “NFL, the failure of the quarterbacks, but Brady is a sure thing.” Not a sports guy: does that make sense? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/17 "2017-10-25T10:19:36Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > And then there’s Irish \*craic \*(pronounced roughly “crack”), meaning “fun,” used by many Irish when speaking English, even if they don’t know much Irish. In fact, _craic_ is simply a transcription of the English dialect word crack (pronounced, er, “crack”), meaning news, gossip, banter etc. I gather that Irish language purists have been looking askance at it since its first appearance in the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/18 "2017-10-25T14:34:46Z")
> [@CeleTheRef](#): > > a “crac”/“crack” in Italian means “failure, ruin”. > it usually mean a financial ruin, but in this case the title means that QBs did very poorly this week. > for reference, the boardgame Go For Broke! in Italian is titled “Crack!” because the goal is to ruin yourself. > > [Crack! (MB Giochi Italian edition 1993) | Board Game Version | BoardGameGeek](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameversion/86836/milton-bradley-italian-edition-1993) This is the sole meaning given in Collins Spanish-English dictionary, BTW. They give “El crac de 1929” (The Crash of 1929) as exemplar. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/19 "2017-10-25T15:08:15Z")
DRAE itself doesn’t have the sports meaning, it’s either “onomatopoeia of something breaking” or “sudden, large fall of financial markets”. But they don’t usually bother with terms that are as narrow as that sports usage: I think the only reason they list _esternocleidomastoideo_ is because it’s such a lovely little word. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/20 "2017-10-25T15:41:06Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > “NFL, the failure of the quarterbacks, but Brady is a sure thing.” Not a sports guy: does that make sense? Yep, that makes sense. The literal translation in English is clunky, but the gist is certainly communicated. Several NFL quarterbacks did have especially poor games Sunday, while Tom Brady led his team to victory once again. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627.md?page=2)