Thursday 22 January 2009

Having some craic with the Young Unionists

Maybe they forgot their policy of distain for all things Irish, or maybe it's a hopeful sign (a 'green shoot', perhaps), but it is certainly interesting that the Fermanagh Young Unionists choose to spell the word 'craic', or 'crack' in the Irish manner on their website:
"Fermanagh and South Tyrone YU social evening
20th February 2009, Irvinestown

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone branch of the Young Unionists are planning a social evening on Friday 20th February, it will include going bowling in Irvinestown.

So if you are thinking about becoming a FSTYU member or if you simply want to find out who and what we are then come along to what is sure to be a good evenings craic.

If you are interested in coming along then the FSTYU Secretary can be contacted on
maovens@googlemail.com."

Usually unionists are quick to point out that craic is merely a gaelicisation of an older english word. And they may be right. So why do they use the Irish version? Are they inadvertently demonstrating that their anti-Irishness is just a political posture, behind which they are, actually, more Irish than they pretend?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps they used the Irish deriative so as not to encourage a large gathering of A-classers looking for a load of white powder to smoke.

In my days in New York, I often confused my American friends when I told them on nights out that I really didn't care where we went as long as the "crack was good".