Art vs. Craft vs. Crafts

"What is art?" is a question that every artist and critic seeks to answer.  Why are certain projects relegated to crafts, a category seemingly lower than art? 

art*—the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.


Art is concerned with aesthetics. Is it beautiful? Not all art is beautiful. Not all art is meant to be.  Does it elevate its subject? Does it draw out thought or emotion from the viewer? Art has a material value (how much it cost to make) but also intrinsic, religious, nationalistic, and psychological value.  The intrinsic value places a piece of art against the hierarchy of all other art and judges its art-ness.  By that scale, we may say that crafts have low intrinsic value, even if they possess other artistic values.


Visual arts (because music, etc. doesn't enter into a discussion of arts and crafts) have formal elements that define and regulate style which is how intrinsic value is largely judged.  The elements are composition, plane, balance, line, depth, perspective, space, shape, light, color, texture, and content. All arts and crafts will employ all of these to varying degrees.  Execution of these elements constitutes technique.  For our purposes, visual arts refers to 2D, 3D, graphic/digital art, and architecture.


craft*—an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, esp.manual skill.


By defining where crafts fall, we are  also defining a specific aspect of art: Technique vs. Creation.  Art is linked to creation/creativity, an emotional and intellectual process.  Rules of technique are bent and changed to accommodate "the artistic process."  Crafts, on the other hand, remain static once their technique has been developed (barring new technology, but that rarely changes the final look of the product).  The layout of Hobby Lobby may help discern this distinction.  The store is divided into 2 (for our purposes) major sections.  The art supplies tend to be more expensive and less likely to come with step by step instructions, except for a few books that can be purchased separately. Crafts supplies tend to come in kits or with some pieces ready made.  


A word about crafts: Many crafts, like scrapbooking, are more likely to be considered hobbies than a calling.  Groups have knitting parties or swap meets.  But we should recognize that crafts historically have more of a function than art does (architecture is the notable exception).  Many hobbies of today were the livelihoods of craftsmen in the last century even.  With the rise of the homesteading movement and the local movement (from which we get the term 'locavore'), we are seeing a recovery of craft and craftsmanship that had all but disappeared in recent decades.  And I am for this. Far from being simply kitschy, crafts teach self-reliance in an industrialized world.


*FDD: 
art, n. This word has no definition. 
craft, n. A fool's substitute for brains.

Write It Right: The Celebrated Cynic's Language Peeves Deciphered, Appraised, and Annotated for 21st-Century Readers

Language is both a natural phenomenon and a science.  It evolves from earlier forms, and it's rules are descriptive rather than proscriptive, like physics.  But unlike physics, the rules change. More like biology, then, especially ostriches and bats.  The point is language rules never apply 100% of the time.  And there may be a time when a rule ceases to exist altogether.  Will/shall usage used to be a big deal grammatically, but when was the last time you used shall except for a conscious effect?

Ambrose Bierce, of The Devil's Dictionary fame, was a usage critic on top of being a journalist and satirist.  In his 'blacklist', Write It Right, he lists his grammatical pet peeves.  Last year, Jan Freeman, a modern usage critic, "appraised and annotated" Bierce's famous list.  I stumbled on this book in Barnes and Noble and jumped for joy that my favorite cynic had another volume to add to my library that I hadn't previously heard of.  I didn't expect my entire view of how language evolves to be shaped by this book, but I am now an aspiring usage maven.

Most of Bierce's entries are, for various reasons, now obsolete. Bierce resists slang, particularly anything commercial (paying your dues) or American, which was seen as less refined than British English by American scholars of his day.  And many of his peeves appear to be unique to him and have no basis in traditional grammar rules.  Bierce spends most of his time trying to pin a single exact meaning for each term and to expurgate all other meanings under the banner of clarity. (See first example.)  Each entry lists the word Bierce is banning, usually as a substitute for another word—wet for wetted (Bierce believes in regular past tense forms ending in -ed.) Next he provides an example in quotes (which sometimes illustrates something entirely different).  And if he felt it necessary, a diatribe on what is wrong with the example.  I have listed Bierce's entry in bold following the style of the book.  Following each entry, Freeman describes the history of the usage Bierce condemns—what etymological dictionaries say, usage by creditable authors, and how the argument stands today. Frequently she analyzes Bierce's reasoning and makes fun of him. A very few entries—Authoress and Former—get wholesale agreement from Freeman. Here are my favorite examples, illustrating Bierce's whim and Freeman's wit and wisdom:

Space for Period. "A long space of time." Space is so different a thing from time that the two do not go well together.
If Bierce had been reading physics, instead of news of the war in Mexico, he might have heard of "the space-time manifold of relativity" before he disappeared around the end of 1913. If he had lived another few years, the OED would have published the S volume, showing that space had meant "duration, period" even before it meant "extent, area," and that both senses were current in the 14th century. Bierce being Bierce, he would probably have concluded that the 14th century needed a good editor; but "space of time" is so natural that even Bierce, not surprisingly, used expressions like "a moment's space" in his published work.

Over for About, In, or Concerning. "Don't cry over spilt milk." "He rejoiced over his acquittal."
Over had been used in this way since Old English, but what was good enough for King Alfred, William Caxton, Shakespeare, and Hardy was apparently too imprecise for Ambrose G. Bierce.

Finally, some vocab you'll run across in this book that made this non-maven's head spin:

solecism— a nonstandard or ungrammatical usage
neologism— a new word, meaning, usage or phrase
maven— a person who has special knowledge or experience, an expert
pleonasm— the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; redundancy
shibboleth— a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth
lexicography— the writing, editing, or compiling of dictionaries
etymon— an earlier form of a word in the same language or an ancestor language

Acronyms, abbrevs, and redundancy

In our fast paced society, we can't be bothered to spell it all out—literally.  We have invented a new shorthand with txt-ing and abbrevs (thank you SoCal) and acronyms. And we usually know what is meant. Mostly. Well, you may not know what RSVP stands for, but you understand the concept. And eventually, as in the case of RSVP, you see the letters as the concept, which introduces a few interesting problems.

RAS syndrome is the redundant use of one or more words that make up an acronym. For example, the syndrome literally reads Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome. Other examples include PIN number (personal identification number number) and ATM machine (automatic teller machine machine).  In the case of PIN, i can understand needing to add a clarifying word to the acronym to separate it from a pin or pen.  For other reasons behind this phenomenon check out the Wikipedia page.

The other problem as I see it has less to do with stylistic blunders and more with being bamboozled as consumers.  Everyone should be aware that msn is an acronym for Microsoft Network. But using their acronym seems to me to soften the impact of their expansion into other media (if you are the sort of person who dislikes big corporations).  And this isn't me pointing a finger at Microsoft, because most people know that one; many companies do this.  When SBC (now merged with AT&T) took over various smaller companies they changed their name to its acronym and then claimed it wasn't an acronym of Southwestern Bell Company and in fact didn't stand for anything.  The break-up and re-merging of the Bell companies is rather interesting but a bit off-topic for this post.

I don't really want to spend more time discussing name changes, mergers, and monopolies, although in an American acronym discussion these topics are frequent and extend back for decades.  Instead, here are several common acronyms I've collected and their meanings.  I'll leave you to spot the irony and age of  some of them.

AAA/ Triple-A— American Automobile Association
ABC— American Broadcasting Company
AT&T—American Telephone and Telegraph
BMW— Bavarian Motor Works
CBS—Columbia Broadcasting System
CNN—Cable News Network
DVD—digital video disc (some of these I hope are familiar) OR digital versatile disc
DVR— digital video recorder
FDA— Food and Drug Administration
LASER (yes, laser)— light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
LP—long-playing [record album]
M&M's—NOT AN ACROMYN, the letters do stand for founders Mars and Murrie
MGM— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
NBC—National Broadcasting Company
NRA— National Rifle Association
PRC— People's Republic of China (you might find this on a clothes tag)
RADAR—radio detection and ranging
RSVP—Respondez sil vous plait (please reply, making 'please rsvp' redundant)
SONAR— sound navigation and ranging
SMS—short message service (aka texting and other stuff sent to your phone)
TBS— Turner Broadcasting System
TLC— The Learning Chanel or tender loving care
TNT— Turner Network Television
USDA— United States Department of Agriculture
VCR—videocassette recorder
VH1— Video Hits One
VHS— video home system

PS- most of the above are actually initialism. Turns out there are terms for different types of acronyms. Search acronym on Wikipedia for more on the differences.

Please Explicate Your Semantics.

The fourth definition of interpret is "to perform or render (a song, role in a play, etc) according to one's own understanding or sensitivity."  First, any performer would argue that good interpretation takes the audience's understanding into account as well.  Secondly, this is true of all interpretation in the practical, human sense.  It is not possible to interpret outside of your own understanding.  Which, despite attempts at total objectivity, makes 'meaning' very personal and nuanced.  And yes, I am talking about language.  Internet comments (along with much of the rest of our lives) could do with a quick discourse on how to make yourself understood in a way that fosters intelligent conversation and debate. So, a few nouns and verbs to kick us off:

semantics— the study of meaning and changes in meaning and form, the interpretation of a meaning of a word

hermeneutics— the science/theory/methodology of interpretation, esp. scripture

exegesis— critical explanation or interpretation of a text, esp the Bible

explicate— to make clear the meaning of, explain, interpret

translate— to explain in terms more easily understood, interpret

elucidate—to make lucid or clear, explain, clarify

clarify— to make clear or intelligible, free from ambiguity

Clear, transparent, lucid.  The light of meaning.  There are entire fields of study surrounding meaning.  Arguing semantics is the basest form of the study of semantics.  It is the catch-all for not wanting to listen to your opponent's arguments.  Meaning is, quite obviously, very near and dear to me. I believe if we all carried around dictionaries (We do! They're called iPhones.) then we could avoid at least half of the silly arguments that cluster around the free exchange and debate of ideas.  The first step to successful communication is to know what it is you are saying.  The second is to know that the other person does too. We filter and interpret and tailor our dialogue depending on the setting.  You use different vocabulary when talking to a six year old versus a sixty year old. What generally lacks though is a level of conscientiousness that not only communicates ideas but digests outside ideas.  We listen.  Not just to what is said, but to what is meant.  I can feel better about myself by correcting my friend's grammar, or I can strengthen our friendship by endeavoring to let them know I understand what they are saying.  Always remember, they are filtering what they say through their own interpretation of language and experience AND SO ARE YOU.

Don't worry, this is as preachy as I am likely to get.  Also, note that semantics has devolved to mean only one aspect of its original meaning, much like 'cynic'.  To sum up: attend to your structure and to anything put forth for critique, and beyond that try to cross the barriers of semantics and take heed of underlying meaning!

I want to be an American idiom

If there is a body of work that at first glance appears to be an entirely unnecessary edition to the library of a well-informed person, then it would be The Dictionary of Cliches.  The fact this book has had at least ten printings is rather ironic (no, really, check my post on irony).  The nature of the cliche is such that anyone fluent in the language already knows its meaning, making a dictionary redundant.  But before looking at the usefulness of this volume, here's a few definitions for clarity (with important differences italicized):

idiom— an expression that cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements and is peculiar  to a people or place

cliche— a trite stereotyped expression that has lost originality and impact thru overuse

proverb— a short popular saying usually of unknown ancient origin expressing a commonplace truth or useful thought

adage— a traditional saying expressing a common experience or observation, a proverb

saw— a sententious saying, maxim, proverb

maxim— an expression of a general truth or principle, particularly an aphoristic or sententious one

aphorism— a terse saying embodying a general truth or astute observation

slang— very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, and ephemeral than ordinary language

A cliche can be an idiom, proverb, or adage as long as it is in common (over)use.  Time also appears to be a factor.  So much slang is so ephemeral that while it may be temporarily overused it also quickly falls out of common usage and becomes culturally antique.

But why a dictionary?  First off, to put collected knowledge into one place.  Students, teachers, writers, and English learners have easy access to the ideas and expressions prominent in our culture.  Expressions only vaguely understood are concretely defined.

More usefully, the origins/history and earliest usage of each cliche is included.  That's one advantage this dictionary has over Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, a much more extensive volume of English idiom and allusion.  Many of the Brewer's entries list only definition (likely because an origin and history cannot be found or concisely stated). The following are few exerts from The Dictionary of Cliches.

More or Less— To a greater or lesser extent; maybe yes and maybe no; it's ambiguous.  How often one hears this formula for inexactitude and how old it is! It goes back to around 1225 in the Ancren Riwle, where it appears as "more oder lesse."

Now or Never— Here is one's last, or only, chance to do something.  The phrase dates at least from Chaucer's time (the 14th century), since he used it in Troilus and Criseyde (1380). The modern sense is clearer in John Daus's translation of Sleidanes Commentaries (1560): "Therefore thought they now, or els never, yt [that] God was on theyr side."

Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating— The way to test whether something came out as it was intended is to try it.  The pudding may look good on the table, but the only way to know for certain is to taste it. As you might expect, it is an old proverb.  One version of it dates to the 14th century.  A translation in 1682 of Boileau's Le Lutrin offered this: "The proof of th' pudding's seen i' th' eating."

Note the playful style and careful dating of each entry. Any saying older that last century is dated by usage in literature.  And most of the entries are old.  English idiom far predates modern spelling (In a some borrowed cases it predates English!).  I feel obligated to point out that the "proof" is NOT "in the pudding".

Knowing the origins of the phrases we use is important for any profession involving writing, creative or journalistic.  Or public (or publicized) speaking. Madelaine Murray O'Hare infamously used the phrase "the writing is on the wall." Had she realized its biblical origin, she probably would have refrained.

With the advent of instant information via the internet, there may be little demand for any sort of reference book, despite the credibility of information being substantially higher.  But my advice is to not judge this book by its cover. That's so cliche...

That's Ironic, or maybe not...

As demonstrated in my post "Smart Insults", many English speakers use words interchangeably without knowing their exact meaning.  Below are more that commonly trip up the masses.


Irony— the use of words to convey meaning opposite of what is said, an outcome contrary to expectations, incongruity, objectively sardonic style

Sardonic— bitter or scornfully derisive, mocking, cynical, sneering

Satire— the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule in exposing, denouncing, deriding vice, folly

Sarcasm— harsh or bitter derision or irony, sharply ironical taunt, sneering or cutting remark

All are indicative of mockery. Irony is more indirect, subtler, wittier.  Sarcasm is used to show contempt or be destructive, either indirectly or directly.  Sarcasm is distinguishable by vocal inflection used.  Satire and irony rely on the organization or structure of language or literature. Satire makes use of irony and sarcasm to critique public figures, politics, governments, etc.

The most typical problem people run into, however, is the difference between irony and coincidence.

Dramatic irony— irony inherent in speeches or situations of a drama understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters; dramatic effect achieved by leading an audience to understand an incongruity between speeches and situation while characters remain unaware.

Literary irony works much the same way.  As 'all the world's a stage', it is unsurprising that irony of situation came to exist alongside irony in speech. But it poses a dilemma.  Far down the list of definitions of irony is: an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.   Which sounds like it could be a coincidence.

Coincidence— a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by chance.

So, if two things coincide unexpectedly it is a coincidence.  If their coinciding goes against expectations, it is both irony and coincidence. If chance is ruled out as being a factor, it is simply ironic.

*FDD: Satire, n. An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein w are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans are "endowed by their Creator" with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a sour-spirited knave, and his every victim's outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent.

Smart Definitions

Americans have a good vocabulary for the people they perceive as smarter or more studious than themselves.  Most of the terms have been used as slurs, many have also been embraced by the studious set. Here is a look at the origins and definitions of those terms.

Nerd— origin 1960-65, means either a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, unattractive person or a single-minded, nonsocial intelligent person, [either having more or] lacking the social grace of a geek

Geek— origin 1915-20 derived from geck —fool, means any smart person with an obsessive interest, odd person, computer expert, a peculiar or dislikable person perceived to be overly intellectual

Dweeb—origin 1980-85, means mega-nerd, nerd, wimp

Dork— origin 1960-65, means a stupid or ridiculous person, jerk, nerd

Clearly, smart and stupid are equal and interchangeable offenses. Wisdom without grace is little better than folly.  And, as always, anything not understood is considered inferior.

I have always felt nerd lacked the punch behind geek, but the internet does not currently agree with my view.

Definitions

I feel a little bad about my previous sentiment on LitCrit.  There is one notable aspect that I actually love: the origins of the stories we tell.  Folklore, fairy tales, fables (and to a lesser extent myth) fascinate me in that we still use these same stories in our bestsellers and blockbusters.  I love finding out how old our 'modren' concepts really are.  Similarly, I took a year of college Latin primarily because of my love for etymology.  I gave my mother a bit of a shock when an Amazon order of mine was delivered to my parents house rather than my school address.  She called me concerned, "Did you intend to order a dictionary?"  Yes, I had, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable  to be exact.  As Terry Pratchett puts it in the intro,"Brewer's is ostensibly a reference book, and an indispensible one. But it is also an idiosyncratic adventure, pulling you in and saying: 'This is, in fact, not what you're looking for; but it's much more interesting.' And, of course it usually is."  This book and others like it are resources for common English idiom and popular and literary allusion.  I keep a list in the back of phrases I try to look up but aren't included... yet.  I own the 17th edition, but the 18th has already been published.

I have a few standard dictionaries (Webster, Spanish to English, Latin), but the internet is rapidly making them obsolete.  Dictionary.com is my friend when I write, particularly its thesaurus.  Also in my collection is Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, which I picked up for a dollar somewhere or other.  It is notably the only dictionary I read for pleasure, although I'm only to "I".  Definitions on this blog will be regularly supplemented with entries from The Devil's Dictionary.  I also have a passion for books of miscellany, but will relegate these to another post.

 The root of dictionary is diction— style of speaking or writing as dependent on choice of words and -ary a suffix denoting objects, esp. receptacles or places.  Therefore, a dictionary is a word receptacle.*

Literature has roots in the latin 'literatus'— learned, scholarly, which comes from 'lettre'— alphabetic character. 'Litterature' means grammar.  So, only written, grammatical, scholarly works count as literature. Sorry, internet.

And for the record: criticism— the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything. Critic comes from a Greek word meaning "skilled in judging".*  I rest my case.


* From The Devil's Dictionary (henceforth FDD):
dictionary- a malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic.
critic- a person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody tries to please him.