When I was a kid my grandparents had a farm that bordered a crick or a run off of the skunk river.
I used to get lectures from my grandpa on things he thought important! LOL We would spend alot of time at the crick fishing. I learned to swim there. Well grandpa made a point of explaining to us kids that it was a crick and not a creek! A river runs off into a creek and then a crick is a smaller run off of the creek.
He was very particular what you called it!! But most people use them interchangably.