Shakespeare was a man who enjoyed the crack. Or even the "craic", as 97 per cent of Twitter users now spell it, according to a poll being carried out, even as I write, by Róisín Ingle. But the Bard, ...

I used to lament the Gaelicisation of that fine old Anglo-Scottish word “crack”. Seeing it spelt as “craic” would set my teeth on edge, as it did the teeth of this paper’s late, great lexicographer ...