Artful and Crafty.

[answerbok]

Both of these words suggest skill, cunning and deceit. Does this mean then, that all art and craft is a skilful deceit, a con, trick or device?

[mikewith]

No.

[woofgang]

I believe that this is an example of "meaning slippage", originally, both words had connotations of technical skill without any negative aspects.

[sft42]

90% of Modern art, yes.

[Quizmonster]

'Crafty' originally meant 'strong' and later came to mean 'skilful'. It was not until the late 14th century that it took on its modern meaning of 'skilful at devising underhand schemes'.

'Artful', though more modern, went through much the same process. It did not take on its "Artful Dodger" sort of connotation until the 18th century. 'Cunning', too, just meant 'knowing' or 'knowledge' to start with.

So, a beautifully-crafted, highly-decorated Anglo-Saxon sword, say, should never be dismissed as an artistic 'con' and could easily be described as 'crafty' or 'artful', since it existed before these words took on their pejorative meanings. On the other hand, I tend to agree with Sft that much moderrn art is precisely that...a con. A soiled and tatty bed is art? Not in my book, I'm afraid.

[answerbok]

brilliant reply QM, what's new. :-)

[Quizmonster]

Thanks, A/B...you're too kind. Cheers

[Squirrel]

So who likes modern style art, then? No one I've met, except one dodgy art teacher and loads of people on TV. Why the hell - the hell - does it exist?

Right, I'll try not to bring all that up again...anyway, when I hear the word "craft" I think of people making intricate little boxes and wooden devices, and glass sculptors and things like that. For the most part, genuine care seems to have been put into their work, but then there's the odd pile of scrap metal or a giant purple donkey that just...puts my teeth on edge. Would it be worth starting a "Polls" category on Answerbank to see what percentage of visitors believe this, or any other subject?