Tom in Washington, D.C., says his Airbnb host misunderstood his comment about the host’s crack team of helpers. He was using crack as a compliment, in the same way that a crack shot has good aim with a rifle, and a crack regiment of an army is an especially effective one. This sense of crack may go back to an old word for “boast,” just as something that’s not all it’s cracked up to be is something not worth bragging about. This sense is also connected to Irish good craic, associated with “a convivial evening” or “good time.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “A “Crack” Team Is Something to Boast About, Not Arrest”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hey there, this is Tom from Washington, D.C. How are you?
Hi, Tom. Welcome to the show.
So I just recently got back from like a big family reunion, family vacation type deal over in Asheville, North Carolina.
It was my first time there. It was wonderful. It was beautiful.
I got to see my whole family, my immediate family, who, you know, we haven’t gotten to see each other in ages because of the pandemic and all that.
But we stayed in this like beautiful Airbnb that was up on the top of a mountain.
So it had an incredible view. And it was wonderful, except for at some point we started having a few different like utility issues, you know, like the oven wasn’t working well.
The AC had frozen over. So it was getting insanely hot over there.
And so my dad had to correspond with the Airbnb host, reported the issues.
And she was super gracious, sent out a team of people to help on all these different issues.
And, you know, once they had been taken care of, my dad was corresponding with her and said, hey, you know, I’m glad that we got so many of these things worked out.
It’s clear that you have a crack team of maintenance people who were really able to help us out.
And so the woman responds.
She’s like, hey, yeah, I’m glad we got to take care of this for you.
I don’t know about the crack comment, but I’m glad nonetheless.
And so my dad turns around, looks at me and my sisters, and he’s like, you know, if I say the words crack team, what does that mean to you guys?
And this was obvious to us.
You know, we gave a thumbs up.
We’re like, that’s a good thing.
We’re like, we’re happy about that.
And he’s like, yeah, but now he’s in like a text altercation with this woman who like never heard the phrase before is interpreting it as something negative.
And he has to clarify. It’s like, no, no, no, no, no, this is good.
I’m trying to say that like these were fast acting people who were really helpful to us.
So that’s why I’m calling like why crack team?
What does that mean and why was it obvious to us and not to somebody else who had heard it before?
Oh, no. So she was thinking crack as in drugs.
She was just thinking the worst kind of crack.
Yeah, sure. You crack your head. You know, there’s no one’s ever no one’s ever liked the word crack before in this context.
And yet to us, it was a positive thing.
Yeah, because you were using it in a perfectly legitimate way.
I mean, crack in that sense means first rate or excellent or top notch.
I mean, if you’re a crack shot with with a rifle, you know, you can hit that target.
Yeah. You know, crack regiment of an army is a really, really good one.
And what’s really interesting about this term is that it may come from an old sense of crack, meaning to boast.
And in the 14th century, you would hear people talk about boasting and cracking.
And that’s why we get the expression, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
It has to do with boasting.
And by the 18th century, it came to mean something, you know, you could describe something wonderful that’s smart or sharp.
But it’s crack, or you could even say it’s the crack or all the crack.
So, yeah, perfectly legitimate sense.
Well, thank you so much for the information.
You’ve been very helpful, and I can report back.
Tom, thanks for sharing the story.
By the way, like Martha said, the crack regiment or crack team goes back to the 1700s.
So your dad had hundreds of years of usage behind him.
I won’t let him know that.
I’m not going to say that he’s a long line of linguists or anything.
That’s not his background.
Oh, I see.
Don’t over equip him with another tool.
Yeah, exactly.
I don’t want his head getting too big.
He’s like, yeah, no, I’m Shakespeare myself.
Like, no, Dad, I promise you, you’re not.
All right.
Take care, Tom.
Be well.
Thanks so much.
Have a good one.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
All right.
Bye-bye.
Indeed.
Good crack here.
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