3 ms·

It's tempting to suggest to use "crafter", but that term has its own connotations different from "craftsman/craftswoman/craftsperson". See http://www.potters.or

by dalke 12y ago

It's tempting to suggest to use "crafter", but that term has its own connotations different from "craftsman/craftswoman/craftsperson". See http://www.potters.org/subject46874.htm http://www.potters.org/subject46874.htm for examples from 2001: > [person #1:] I am uncomfortable with the word "crafter." I think it is used by people who do not know better in reference to anyone who practices any kind of craft. When we use the term "craftsman" or "craftsperson" we have a very definite concept in mind, and it is nothing like "crafter." > [person #2:] Crafter, hmmmm. The image that comes to my mind is a person who makes toilet seat covers from little pieces of foam rubber and similar do-dads from the kits A.C. Moore and similar stores sell. > [person #3:] I suspect that "crafter" is the newspaper's politically correct solution to the dilemma of the "man" in "craftsman". Kind of like "server" instead of "waitress/waiter". Unfortunately, the term "crafter" conjures up (in my mind) images of hot-gluing egg carton cut-outs together to form Christmas stars, and making poodles out of empty bread bags . . . you get the idea. Several in that thread preferred instead to avoid the issue and use "artisan". The Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft concurs: "The traditional terms craftsman and craftswoman are nowadays often replaced by artisan and rarely by craftsperson (craftspeople)."

brudgers 12y ago
"Artisan" connotes work supported by patronage. Why not just be disruptive and go with "prima donna"?
- dalke 12y ago
  Are you sure about that? Perhaps you have mixed up "artisan" and "artist"? Both come from the root word ars (“art, skill”); from which we also get "artificial", for "made by skill", and the web site "Ars Technica" for the art/skill of technology. Quoting again from Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artisan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artisan : "Artisans practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude reach the expressive levels of an artist" and "Artisans were the dominant producers of consumer products prior to the Industrial Revolution" Of course, WP can be wrong, so I pulled up a few examples from Google Books from the 20th century, so there could be no feedback from Wikipedia usage: I found https://books.google.com/books?id=CIH912O6ogAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=artisan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hxM1VbaMBsyesgGh0IG4DA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=artisan&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=CIH912O6ogAC&printsec=fron... : > Nehemiah Wallington was a London Puritan artisan .... Wallington remained in the house of his birth, where he learned his father's trade as a turner and became free of the Company of Turners by patrimony. And https://books.google.com/books?id=oRgNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=artisan&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=7BQ1VYXwH8a3sQGcroGICQ&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=artisan&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=oRgNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=ar... : > His set of motivations, ambition, resentment, acquisitiveness, duty, and altruism, is typical of that shown by the uneasy class of artisan and petit bourgeois reformers. Like Lovett, Place, and later George Howell, Linton was confident of his skills and entrepreneurial abilities and needed litle capital to make an income; but he, like them, remained vulnerable to market changes, indignant at his lowly status, and sensitive to rebuffs from superior powers. .... William Lovett, the upright, self-educated artisan radical ... And https://books.google.com/books?id=8YukeIgFlL4C&pg=PA105&dq=artisan&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=OBY1VdmEMMKqsgHbm4DgDA&ved=0CCAQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=artisan&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=8YukeIgFlL4C&pg=PA105&dq=a... : > In olden days, these village artisans used to be self-sufficient in meeting their family requirements through the payments received by them by operating agriculture supporting artisan enterprises. ... Among the several artisan enterprises, the business of only blacksmiths, carpenters, cobblers and ropemakers is in existence today None of these suggest patronage of any sort. Until the industrial age, artisans were self-employed, and free from direct financial ties to a single patron.
  - brudgers 12y ago
    I call "odds bodkins" on ignoring the industrial age. My supermarket sells frozen artesianal bread dough in a plastic bag. I can buy it if I'm willing to pay more.
    - dalke 12y ago
      First off, you are right. Artisans during the industrial age were increasingly employed for factory production. That's still not working for a patron. Second off, the OP asked about a name for "engineering postings for our company". That's part of a factory system. If anything, the term "artisan" is even an more appropriate description. Factories and employment lead to the near demise of artisans, as that last reference I gave suggests. The use now is a revival of the original handcraft sense, which is why that's what I covered.

by dalke 12y ago

brudgers 12y ago

"Artisan" connotes work supported by patronage. Why not just be disruptive and go with "prima donna"?

dalke 12y ago
Are you sure about that? Perhaps you have mixed up "artisan" and "artist"? Both come from the root word ars (“art, skill”); from which we also get "artificial", for "made by skill", and the web site "Ars Technica" for the art/skill of technology. Quoting again from Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artisan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artisan : "Artisans practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude reach the expressive levels of an artist" and "Artisans were the dominant producers of consumer products prior to the Industrial Revolution" Of course, WP can be wrong, so I pulled up a few examples from Google Books from the 20th century, so there could be no feedback from Wikipedia usage: I found https://books.google.com/books?id=CIH912O6ogAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=artisan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hxM1VbaMBsyesgGh0IG4DA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=artisan&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=CIH912O6ogAC&printsec=fron... : > Nehemiah Wallington was a London Puritan artisan .... Wallington remained in the house of his birth, where he learned his father's trade as a turner and became free of the Company of Turners by patrimony. And https://books.google.com/books?id=oRgNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=artisan&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=7BQ1VYXwH8a3sQGcroGICQ&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=artisan&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=oRgNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=ar... : > His set of motivations, ambition, resentment, acquisitiveness, duty, and altruism, is typical of that shown by the uneasy class of artisan and petit bourgeois reformers. Like Lovett, Place, and later George Howell, Linton was confident of his skills and entrepreneurial abilities and needed litle capital to make an income; but he, like them, remained vulnerable to market changes, indignant at his lowly status, and sensitive to rebuffs from superior powers. .... William Lovett, the upright, self-educated artisan radical ... And https://books.google.com/books?id=8YukeIgFlL4C&pg=PA105&dq=artisan&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=OBY1VdmEMMKqsgHbm4DgDA&ved=0CCAQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=artisan&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=8YukeIgFlL4C&pg=PA105&dq=a... : > In olden days, these village artisans used to be self-sufficient in meeting their family requirements through the payments received by them by operating agriculture supporting artisan enterprises. ... Among the several artisan enterprises, the business of only blacksmiths, carpenters, cobblers and ropemakers is in existence today None of these suggest patronage of any sort. Until the industrial age, artisans were self-employed, and free from direct financial ties to a single patron.
- brudgers 12y ago
  I call "odds bodkins" on ignoring the industrial age. My supermarket sells frozen artesianal bread dough in a plastic bag. I can buy it if I'm willing to pay more.
  - dalke 12y ago
    First off, you are right. Artisans during the industrial age were increasingly employed for factory production. That's still not working for a patron. Second off, the OP asked about a name for "engineering postings for our company". That's part of a factory system. If anything, the term "artisan" is even an more appropriate description. Factories and employment lead to the near demise of artisans, as that last reference I gave suggests. The use now is a revival of the original handcraft sense, which is why that's what I covered.