What is a 'Tits' junction?

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on July 11, 2008 at 8:43

No it's not a typo Madeline. It refers to a junction of the same type as the one a Williamson Road and Green Lanes (by Sainsbury's), one designed with great care and forethought by Haringey Council. (Within professional town planning circles, you may also hear this type of junction referred to as a snafuju).

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Permalink Reply by Dee on July 18, 2008 at 9:58

I think its at Warham Rd/green Lanes where the prostitutes hang out touting business!!

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Permalink Reply by Liz on July 19, 2008 at 16:59

Blimey Dee, gambling, prostitution? Is that the sound of the house prices tumbling?...disgruntled of Warham :)

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Permalink Reply by Madeline on July 18, 2008 at 10:16

Ah, so that's what it is. I dread to think what the next typo will come up as. It reminds me of Paddys Day a few years ago when the Journal did a piece on a Wetherspoons pub. "....... so come down and enjoy the crack."

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Jane Ives on July 18, 2008 at 22:43

Ah, well "come down and enjoy the crack" isn't exactly a typo is it. As a new member reading the posts for the first time I have noticed the leaning towards pedantry so thought i might just mention that. As all us Irish, and not Paddys, are you Irish Maddy? Do enjoy the crack and know exactly what it means, and it's not smutty and it's not a typo.

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Permalink Reply by Madeline on July 19, 2008 at 13:18

No, I'm not Irish, my hubby is and so are most of my friends and the pub I drink in and I do know what it means. It was a typo. It should have read 'CRAIC' not 'CRACK', (as in drugs?). And who is Maddy?

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Permalink Reply by Eddie Finnegan on July 19, 2008 at 16:25

Madeline & Lisa Jane,
At the extreme risk of "leaning towards pedantry":
'Crack' is a totally respectable Ulster-Scots/Ulster-English word, used for generations/centuries by ordinary Ulster folk and by our best writers on both sides of the border, of every tradition, creed, seed, generation and political persuasion - to mean: chat, small talk, conversation, natter, chatter, gossip - and all the camraderie, company, companionship, fun and 'downright divilment' fostered by said discourse/intercourse/interlocution.
Normal usage:
"Sit down and have a (bit of a) crack." (a chat, a chinwag)
"He's the world's worst crack." (of someone with no small talk)
"She's (a) great crack." (the opposite)

"A great night's crack" (including, maybe, a bit of fun and games as well as chat)
"Crack a joke" & "That's a right cracker!" (a slightly different but related usage)

ALL OF THEM WITH THE SPELLING: 'CRACK'. My personal recollection is from the Armagh-Monaghan-Louth border region, late 1940's. My parents'/grandparents' usage dated to the 1870's.

Only when the Northerners (thanks to the Brits!) brought their crack to Dublin and the deeper South in the late 1960's/1970's did their southern neighbours feel the need to adopt and adapt the crack and Gaelicise it as 'CRAIC' - whether or not to avoid any cocaine-fuelled confusion is a moot point. That might have been a later spin-off - 80s/90s.

'CRAIC' was never a Gaeilge/Irish word. It's a modern 'ersatzGaelic' monstrosity, unheard of on land or on sea, north or south, prior to the 1970s. Now that CRAIC has entered the Gaeilge lexicon, let's use it nuair ataimid ag labhairt as Ghaeilge, but when speaking English in an English or multicultural context, let's keep the CRACK going!
The Journal and Witherspoons were right. Maybe they recognise that 'crack', like St Patrick, was basically a British gift to Ireland.

All of which has little to do with Madeline's original discussion - but if you're going to have a bit of crack, where better than down at Tits Junction?

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