# Translating Italian into English: what does "il crac" mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627>\
**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:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**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 25, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-italian-into-english-what-does-il-crac-mean/799627/21 "2017-10-25T16:18:45Z")

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> [@WotNot](#):
>
> 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.

I didn’t know that! Oh, well.

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