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What does "cracker" mean in these passages from The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth:

1: QUINN. Where’s Michael?
CAITLIN. Flat on his cracker in bed.

2: MICHAEL. Morning, Tom Kettle. Where’s m’da?
CAITLIN. Out in the black barn. Killing the goose.
MICHAEL. I’m s’posed to be killing the goose!
CAITLIN. Not flat on your cracker in bed you’re not. It’s gone six.

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  • Are you sure you've transcribed this accurately? Google has just 3 instances of "out in the black barn" (one being this very question, the others clearly not relevant), whereas "out in the back barn" gets over 8000 hits. I think it's pretty obvious the intended meaning of on your cracker here is on your back (or more coarsely, backside, arse), but I've never heard of that usage. As slang, a cracker is something really good - which I think the specifically Irish term craic derives from (Caitlin being an Irish name).
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 28, 2019 at 17:18
  • @FumbleFingersReinstateMonica Reinstate Monica it's from The Farryman by Jez Butterworth
    – user103409
    Dec 28, 2019 at 17:37
  • Ah, so there's definitely an Irish connection. Jez Butterworth is English, but I see that play centres on the IRA hunger strikes. I googled irish slang cracker ass and came up with this. News to me, but apparently Shakespeare has the line What cracker is this same that deafs our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath? (which I understand as Who farted?). A bit tenuous, but maybe that eventually led to the usage here. It's certainly not "common" though.
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 28, 2019 at 19:10

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