The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man

Subject: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From:
Date: 18 Jul 01 - 03:34 AM

Hello!

I am just trying to get the sense of "The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man", but english is not my native language and therefore I have some problems. I figured out that the narrators are getting with a ship to a town called Douglas. And in the town they where getting drunk in several pubs. On one night there is a little fight in a pub. They are brought to jail and then they are deported.

What is the sense of this song? What means 'whack'. Is it to hit somebody? Are they deported to the Isle of Man, I did not know that the Isle of Man is a location for deported persons? They are talking about a plan, what does this mean. Did they want to get to the isle of man? What mean 'crack was 90'? A crack is a split between something, but between what?

I hope somebody could help me to find the answers to this questions.

Kind regards Rainer

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Wolfgang
Date: 18 Jul 01 - 03:51 AM

Rainer,

crack = craic (but I leave it to the native speakers of Irish to explain that)

craic was ninety explained in an old thread

'whack' means hit

They just had a great weekend on the Isle of Man, got into a fight, into jail until the Dublin boat came and were deported from not to the Isle of Man.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Wolfgang
Date: 18 Jul 01 - 03:53 AM

one of many German expressions for craic was ninety is 'da war der Bär los'

W.

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 02:43 PM

The craic (crack) was MIGHTY! The craic can also be FIERCE but in 30 years in the Irish traditional music scene, including much mighty and fierce craic, I have never heard of the craic being ninety.

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: iRiShBaBe
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 03:34 PM

as a paddy i feel i should explain our lingo!

right well craic means the fun... ie. "the craic last

night was unreal".... so translated that means "the fun

last night was unreal! meaning the person in question

had a good night!!

get me??

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Hawker
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 06:59 PM

Also, The manx accent is similar though different to Liverpudlian, and I suspect a play on words with the whack and wack - whack meaning to hit something ans wack being a friendly term for another person, just as one may say 'you alright mate?' they would say 'you alright wack?'
Whatever it all means, it's a grea song about a great place! The Crack has always been 90+ (special significance to Douglas motorcycle owners!) when I've been there!

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 07:42 PM

Well Christy has it as Ninety not Mighty in his songbook.

He got it from the fella that write it, Barney Rush. "About a visit Barney and his friends made to the Isle of Man in the late fifties."

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 08:50 PM

Found this explanation on rec.music.celtic on Christmas Eve 1999:
"A friend from Ireland explained this to me [...]. 90 was a maximum speed limit (KPH I guess?). Craic was a good time. The Craic was 90 meant the fun was at the maximum and could [not] get any higher."

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Den
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 09:15 PM

Your right Susanne. The craic was 90 was a popular expression at home meaning exactly that, that it was going so fast that you couldn't get a word in...sideways. Hope this helps. Den

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Brían
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 09:58 PM

Thanks for clearing that up Suzanne And Den.

Brían.

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Pene Azul
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 03:32 AM

Rainer, I copied this from your new thread, then deleted it. To bring back an old thread, you can type a word or some words from it into the filter box, set an appropriate age (in this case, 30 days would do it), and click "Refresh."

---

Subject: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: GUEST
Date: 08-Aug-01 - 03:30 AM

Hello! I have some questions concerning the sense of this song, because is english is not my native language.

Who are the "liverpool Judies"? What mean "he throwin'the jar into her'"? At the end of the song there is a little fight and some people are deported. Are the 'liverpool Judies' deported or who?

Kind regards Rainer

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: sledge
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 05:00 AM

Rainer,

Liverpool judies - girls from liverpool

Throwin' the jar into her - getting her to drink lots from a jar (glass)

Cheers

Sledge

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 06:52 AM

Hello!

Thank you. But who is deported? The boys from liverpool, which are mentioned as 'Liverpool lad', or the narrators?

Kind regards Rainer

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Big Tim
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 01:34 PM

Has anyone mentioned the composer? Don't think so. According to the Christy Moore album "Live in Dublin" it was written by Barney Rush ("a friend of mine, a fella from Dublin living in Jersey" - CM). Anyone who dosen't have this album: BUY IT NOW!

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: GUEST,Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 04:16 PM

The pubs and bars mentioned (including the Douglas Head [Hotel] where Wack got whacked out on his back) no longer exist here in the Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin), so the song is interesting as a social document, even for that, let alone the deportation issue.

'Wack' is perhaps strange, because 'wack' or 'wacker' is traditionally a name for a Liverpudlian, but probably of 1930/40 vintage. Many of these sort of nicknames were used in the army, so a Liverpudlian automatically became Wack[er]. But here he is in the song, one of the Dublin lads.

As a holiday playground, if things got out of hand (as in the song), one of the things the Manx police/courts could do was send people home and insist they didn't come back to the Island within a certain number of years.

However, recently there was a case where somebody who had been resident here for ten months was told to leave the Island and not return for five years following some sort of anti-social motoring offence.

The common repost to anyone belly-aching about the Island is to say that there's a boat at 9 o'clock in the morning - be on it!

So yes, deportation is still with us, even outside the realms of asylum-seekers!

Shoh slaynt,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Big Tim
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 05:15 PM

What about the birch? Three Glasgow schoolmates of mine got birched there in in the 60s. This isn't a moan, just a question.

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 06:31 PM

Anti social motoring offence?? What the hell could that be?!! There is no speed limit outside of the towns and villages (ah, all those lovely bikes....) the only anti social motoring offence I can think of would be not clearing up after the horses along Douglas front!!!

LTS

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: CraigS
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 08:39 PM

The people in the song were visiting to see the TT races. The crack was 90 is a pun on the speeds achieved by the motorcycles. I'm cracking on to another subject.

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 09 Aug 01 - 03:55 PM

Bobby Bob, Christy Moore has written a song 'Whacker Humphries', about a guy from Dublin. Maybe the nickname wasn't restricted to Liverpudlians (which I used to think were called Scousers)?

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: GUEST,Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 09 Aug 01 - 06:27 PM

Big Tim, the Isle of Man was taken to the Court of Human Rights about birching in the 1970s. For some years, though it remained on the Statute Book, it was never used. Your friends must have been some of the last to be birched. It's been off the Statute Book for a good number of years now, and we've even got rid of capital punishment off it within the last few years.

Liz the Squeak wonders what an anti-social motoring offence might be. I think in this case it was driving whilst under the influence of alcohol, which slows the reactions down and puts others at risk. These days, there seems to be a proliferation of speed limits round the Island, but there's no limit (pace, George Formby) over the mountain road, so there's a regular run between Ramsey Hairpin and Hillberry where people open up (often quite anti-socially, especially if you're driving in the opposite direction!). This year, we've not had the TT, Southern 100 or MGP, so bikes haven't featured to the usual extent. As for Douglas front, if you want confirmation that one end bites and one end shites, just set up there with the driver of the horse tram.

Suzanne (skw) - 'Scouser' is certainly a term used for Liverpudlians, but 'Wack' or 'Wacker' used to be a fairly well-known nickname, used when addressing a person, whereas 'Scouser' is used as a description. There's bound to be a cross-over with Dublin, bearing in mind the strong connections between the cities, so maybe 'Wack[er]' is the result of that. Scousers use the word 'judy' for a female. I'm sure the 'Liverpool judies' comes into a song or two. I don't know about an Irish Gaelic equivalent, but the Gaelic of the Isle of Man has 'doodee' meaning a young woman, which is obviously connected.

Slaynt mie,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: GUEST,Rainer Mueller
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 04:14 AM

I am still trying to get the sense of the song. I do not know who is getting deported? The boys from liverpool, which are mentioned as 'Liverpool lad', or the narrators?

Kind regards Rainer

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Paddy Plastique
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 08:05 AM

Rainer, as I remember: "Landed up in the Douglas jail - until the Dublin boat did sail, Deported every man..." The Dublin lads are locked up after the fight then deported. 'Wacker' or 'Whacker' is still a common nickname in Dublin to this day - possibly given to people who like giving out digs. It also means, contradictorily, 'shit' and, figuratively, to be afraid/chicken i.e.: 'smell o' wack' 'wacking it' You might notice that they start off the drinking in the 1st verse in Dublin - 'Weren't we the rare auld stock' ('rare auld stock' meaning 'hoors' cf. the Zoological Gardens) 'getting locked' - getting drunk. The Ace of Spades is a bar in Dublin that no longer exists (anyone remember where it was ?). They roll down to the boat over 'Butt Bridge' and then pass out the Liffey Mouth by the Alexandra Basin - part of the Dublin docks. I won't go on as I'll be here all day - I'm sure it's covered in those threads linked to anyhow...

PS Note of controversy - 'crack' is widely acknowledged as being a word of English origin

Subject: RE: The crack was 90 in the Isle of Man
From: Pathfinderpat
Date: 07 Apr 11 - 02:19 PM

Rainer might be interested to note that another character from Dublin named Whacker and the craic both reappear in a song by Christy about the 1988 European football championships. The song is called Joxer Goes to Stuttgart and is about another excursion outside Ireland. The outcome is more favourable on this occasion, even though the crack was a notch higher.