Andy, a listener in Fairbanks, Alaska, has always referred to a stiff neck as a crick, so he was surprised when he heard a high school football coach from Missouri complain of a creak in his neck and justified the pronunciation with creaky. In North American English, the usual term for that is crick. You’ll also hear crook, probably from the hooked shape of a shepherd’s crook, and kink, while in the UK it’s a rick, also spelled wrick. The coach may have been influenced by hearing some people refer to a flowing creek as a crick. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Stiff Neck: “Crick,” “Creak,” “Crook,” and “Kink””
Hello.
You have A Way with Words.
Hi.
It’s Andy Larson.
I’m calling from, Fairbanks.
Hey, Andy.
Oh, at Fairbanks, Alaska.
I love Fairbanks.
What’s going on?
I had a story, that happened a while back in football camp, a high school football camp.
I wanted to share it with you guys because I thought you would find some interest in it.
Sure.
One of the coaches that was helping us said, I got a creak in my neck.
And I said, a creak in your neck?
I’ve always called it a creak.
He goes, no.
I called it a creak.
And he was from Missouri, and I asked a few other people in different parts of the country whether they went with crick or creak, and the general consensus was creak crick.
Sorry.
But he said it’s creak in his book.
So I just thought you might find some interest in that.
And he referred to it as, like, creaky, like, c r e a k y, like, a creaky nest.
Oh, I see.
So he’s got a little reinterpretation to kind of make it make sense.
Yeah.
But I always thought the crick was the the common phrase when your neck’s kind of kinked up or has a crick.
Yeah, yeah, you’re right, Andy.
In North America, in North American English, crick, c r I c k, is the usual form to say I have a crick in my neck.
There’s also a crook in one’s neck, c r o o k.
That’s considerably less common though, although it’s widespread enough that it can’t be dismissed.
And then, some people say a kink in one’s neck, K I N K.
Then if you’re in, if you’re in The UK and The United Kingdom, they’ll say a rick, which is either spelled r I c k or w r I c k.
And all of these words have a zillion forms and they’re quite aged there.
They go back quite a ways.
It looks like crook probably is imitative, meaning it imitates the sound of your neck cracking, you know, when those joints are finally released and you get that moment.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah.
And crook comes from the shape of things like a shepherd’s crook.
So people imagine in their minds that they have like a bent neck, you know, with a kind of a hooky shape or a wavy shape.
And it’s easy for those twos to get past and forth, but crook doesn’t come from crook directly.
It doesn’t look like Now, creek isn’t a common version of that.
That pronunciation just isn’t a thing really.
I suspect that he probably, though, also calls the watercourse a creek, C r e e k, a creek because that is common, sprinkled throughout The United States.
So the guy wasn’t wrong.
It was just that his version was much, less common.
Yeah.
I would say it’s not the ideal choice.
Okay.
That’s why I thought I was interested, and you guys would have a good story to go with it.
You guys, though.
I could see how it could happen, though.
If he does, like I said, call it a little water course a a crick instead of a creek.
So maybe there’s some, some loaning happening there from one pronunciation to the other.
But it isn’t something that any of the reference works have recorded, as far as I know.
Okay.
Yeah.
So, cricking your neck.
Oh, thanks for clarifying.
Yeah.
Here’s here’s to a good back.
Yes.
Alright.
Thank you.
Alright.
Take care, Andy.
Yep.
