White cracked

[GoodTaste]

“Now that I do know” what Facebook is, “I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time,” White cracked. “I would never say that people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite.”

Source: HuffPost

Does "crack" here simply mean "chat"? It seems to mean more. I am not sure.

 

[emsr2d2]

A "crack" is another word for a joke. It seems like a strange choice there, though, because the vaguely amusing line comes after the word, not before it.

Note that you have some errant quotation marks in your post. There should be opening marks before "Now" and closing after "time" and that's it for the first sentence. I don't know why you've got "what Facebook is" looking as if it's not part of the quote. It is.

 

[5jj]

"The problem with bigamy" White cracked "is two mothers-in-law".

The word order just about works.

 

[emsr2d2]

"The problem with bigamy" White cracked "is two mothers-in-law".

The word order just about works.

I agree that that works, but that's because "White cracked" comes in the middle of the joke. However, in the original, the sentences on either side of it are separate entities.

 

[5jj]

Fair point.

 

[probus]

BrE may differ, but in AmE a crack is often a joke, but not necessarily. It can also be any bold or brazen remark. For example: John was trying to explain it, but Bob kept interrupting him with one crack after another. In that sense it's possibly short for wisecrack.