The Conceptual Art movement elevated ideas over traditional artistic values like discernment and craftsmanship. Maybe those displaced values needed a home. Is that why suddenly everything outside the realm of art is now “crafted,” “artisanal” or “curated”?
You’ve heard of artisanal beer, bread and gift-wrapping. Now a Hudson Valley craftsman is offering artisanal pencil sharpening. Once you get your hands on one of these hand-sharpened pencils you’re ready to “craft” a sentence. Nobody “writes” any more.
Curating an art exhibition is so 20th century. Now the whole world is ripe for curation. For example, “Curated links” have nothing to do with tasty cured sausage meats, but everything to do with showing the discrimination and taste of a website builder. But when I read about some highfalutin bar serving “curated cocktails,” I was ready to dump my pint of Guinness on somebody’s head.
lexiekahn
And it’s curated by a nose! 🙂
It’s agreed that those are over used. However the niche that I’m in uses it too. So, what’s a guy to do? Well, speak up of course. I agree, even thought craft beer is the buzz word of my niche. It’s too broadly used to carry the original meaning anymore. So, “that’s just the way it is. Some things will never change.” Bruce Hornsby.
Cheers!
David Ivey
BlackBucketBrew.com Inbox Magazine Editor
PS. Check out our free e-book and mag.
PPS. Hm, should we add, niche to the list?
David, yes, “niche” is a good nose-in-the-air addition, especially if you pronounce it “neesh” as the Brits and French do, instead of American-style “nitch.”
Amen! Please leave me out of the “nitch” — I say “neesh” too! LOL
Nose-in-the-air-additon. Too funny!
Americans (apart from yours truly) are still pronouncing it “nitch”? Where?
I do give the French a pass, for obvious reasons.
Good question, Burton. I admit I haven’t heard “nitch” in years, but it is the only pronunciation given in the Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1987) and the New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd ed) on my Mac.
Cool, my word – curated – is winning right now. I feel an episode of Frasier coming on.
Jane, I don’t know if you’re referring to a specific episode of Frasier, but “curated” does have the ring of the Drs. Crane.
My most despised pretentious word right now is “gifted” as in “I was gifted this blanket.” It just rubs me the wrong way.
If you can exchange the blanket for one of cotton rather than wool it probably won’t rub you the wrong way anymore.
Good one, Holly. Has “gifted” jumped from copywriting into colloquial speech?
Seems like I’m behind the times here in Texas: I haven’t encountered curate used in the way you describe. Let’s hope someone—perhaps even a curate—will come up with a cure for curate used in those annoying ways.
I feel a Spanish-English word connection (http://wordconnections.wordpress.com/) coming up.
I hadn’t heard of “curated cocktails” before either, and I’m happy I hadn’t. I know in the online journalism world, curated articles are all the talk, and that somewhat annoys me too. And there you have my crafted response to an artisanal look at buzzwords. (The other two, I don’t mind as much!)