Poll: should artisanal be banned?
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I was chatting with a friend the other day and somehow the crazy frequency of the word-du-jour, “artisanal,” came up. As in, you know, hand-crafted, made with care instead of mass-production. David over Goliath. I’m all for the process. But the word? I’m done with it.
I have plotted the worldwide frequency of the term above, not just in wine, but all things precious and artsy-craftsy. We appear to have a long way to go before the term dies of overuse.
So what do you say–should artisanal be banned? Polls now open!
Should the word artisanal be banned?
Note: my graph was hand-crafted.
Aug
20
2007
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On August 20th, 2007 at 11:02 am ,Mark Ashley wrote:
Really?
“Figure not drawn to scale.”
What bugs me most about “artisanal” is that it’s used by mass-producers. Like the par-baked breads you can get in supermarkets. Better than Wonder Bread, sure, but “artisanal”?
On August 20th, 2007 at 1:55 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Heh.
Indeed, fake artisanal is what has pushed me over the edge. We need a term for this: Faux-artisanal? Fartisanal?
On August 20th, 2007 at 2:30 pm ,Mark Ashley wrote:
Fartisanal it is.
Now, submit it to http://www.urbandictionary.com/ to make it official.
On August 21st, 2007 at 7:33 am ,Tish wrote:
Leave artisanal alone. Otherwise, what would we call cheese that stinksup the joint but we won’t throw out?
Better target: “all natural.” As in Snapple drinks that contain pure high fructose corn syrup as the second most prominent ingredient.
On August 21st, 2007 at 10:44 am ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Grr, “all natural,” indeed!
On August 21st, 2007 at 6:12 pm ,Douglas wrote:
Hi Dr. Vino! Here’s a cause for you, leave “artisinal” alone. It’s a perfectly fine little word, kind of draws a lovely picture for you as you say it.
Instead, start a movement to ban “paradigm.” I HATE that word! Don’t you just get the sense that 80% of the time you hear that word, the speaker has no idea what it means?
On August 21st, 2007 at 7:03 pm ,Tish wrote:
Everyone knows Paradigm is a Napa winery, right?!!
On August 24th, 2007 at 3:52 pm ,David Vergari wrote:
I made slightly less than 600 cases of mostly Pinot Noir and a little Cabernet Sauvignon during the 2006 vintage. The largest (sic) bottling was 173 cases. Does this make me nano-tisanal instead of artisanal? Not that it really matters!
On September 18th, 2007 at 9:29 am ,BobZ wrote:
paradigm is 20¢
Personally artisanal is much too long a word to describe the naturalness of the product.
I like artsy
Faux-artisanal? Fartisanal?
ok, so … fartsy.