Learn English – When and how did “momentarily” come to mean “in a moment”, rather than “for a moment”

There is a difference between "Crack" and "Tell" when it comes to jokes. To crack a joke is to make an original witty remark (i.e. something that, in context, is funny, but would not necessarily stand alone as humor); to tell a joke is to relate a bit of humor that is expected to be received well by your audience.

A sample of the difference:

Your friend says "Hey, did you hear this news story? A bookie in Vegas was attacked by one of his customers."

You say "Wow, I guess they were really at odds with each other. Baaahaha!"

You have just cracked a joke. A small, lame pun-based joke, to be sure, but still.

Your friend says "How many mice does it take to screw in a light bulb? Two, but how did they get into the lightbulb in the first place?"

Your friend has just told a joke.

Here's a shot at it, not sure if this is accurate but is logical.

Two definitions of the word can combine to form this meaning of Historic.

The first is

of the first or highest quality, class, or rank

The second is

serving as a standard, model, or guide.

I would say, the classic model is also the highest quality model. You can't know the classic model unless it is in the past. Thus, the usage of the word describes something of high quality, in the past.

A classic model for economic growth would be one that is proven to work because of its high quality, It is possible that the fact that it has taken place in the past serves its base for being an historical word.

Possibly.

These and other definitions of classic: dictionary.reference.com/browse/classic?s=t