Sir, - I refer to Denis Healy's letter, "Crack is back" (January 26th) and to Terence Killeen's Irishman's Diary of January 11th. The word "crack", or its sham-Gaelic equivalent "craic", derives from the Gaelic "creach", meaning plunder or cattle-raiding. This was a feature of ancient Ireland, when our farmer ancestors counted their wealth in cattle, and indulged in frequent forays throughout the country to add to their stock. So, going for the "creach", became not only a lucrative but a popular sport, and the origin of today's "crack". Over time the soft aspirate "c" gave way to the hard "k" sound.
With reference to Prof Terence Dolan's estimable Hiberno-Irish Dictionary, the word "smithereen" is of course pure Gaelic, "smidirin being the diminutive of "smiodar", a fragment. Another word mentioned is "pludan", meaning in Kerry, apparently, a pool of rain water. The word used in the Co Sligo of my childhood was "plodach" or "pludach", referring to a soft, mucky place, usually churned up by cattle in winter. But I imagine "pludan" and "pludach" have the same origin.
As for Joyce and his Hiberno-Irish, wasn't it all squirelled from Nora Barnacle's colourful Galway idiom?
Speaking of language, Michael O'Loughlin wrote in your edition of January 26th: "At one stage I resolved to kill the next person who said to me `no problem'." What does he think of "Hi" and "Take care", the US imports now widely used here as a greeting and goodbye? - Yours, etc., Vera Hughes,
Moate, Co Westmeath.