handcrafted

[Jonathan Lighter]

If memory serves (and why should it?) "crafted" itself was the immediate
predecessor of "handcrafted."

OED offers but one ex., from 1550. The word is defined as "craftily or
cunningly devised," but the current sense is simply "skilfully constructed."
 "Crafted prose" is a familiar collocation, but there must be even more
industrial applications than for "handcrafted," if only because the idea of
meticulous personal skills is somewhat less overt.

OED has the active verb "craft" from 1963.

JL



On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 7:23 PM, Federico Escobar <
federicoescobarcordoba at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Federico Escobar <federicoescobarcordoba at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: handcrafted
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I took it to be remarkable in the same way "natural," "fresh," and other
> terms were remarked upon by Dwight Bolinger in "Language - The Loaded
> Weapon" (especially chapter 10: "Power and deception"). Bolinger's take
> rings true in JL's analysis of "handcrafted": the word's connotations are
> stretched to situations in which they would no longer logically apply
> (especially not if we follow Ron's hand+craft analysis), with the aim of
> making people feel the whiff of those associations even when the root
> meaning is no longer applicable. It is not merely figurative, either,
> because what's at stake is appropriating those warm associations. Others on
> the thread have said something quite similar, with which I agree.
>
> "Organic" has become less pliable in that sense, because of regulations,
> but
> "natural" remains maliciously malleable.
>
> F.
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 9:52 PM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com>
> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ronald Butters <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: handcrafted
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Well, yeah, since "handcrafted" basically means 'skillfully made', any
> > number of things could be called "handcrafted"; that is not the same
> thing
> > as '(entirely) hand-made'. If Ghia used :"stamps and presses" to make
> there
> > products, they are scarcely 'handmade'. Likewise suits made on any kind
> of
> > assembly line.
> >
> > My point is this:
> >
> > "Handcrafted" today and "handcrafted" in 1952 do not appear to mean much
> > different things, though it is certainly possible that means of
> "crafting"
> > things may have changed owing to technological innovation and different
> > cultural perspectives on "craft."
> >
> > JL began this thread by implying (or so it seemed to me) that the OED was
> > missing some new definition of "handcrafted." I say no: the commercial
> use
> > is not all that different from 1952, and in any case the meaning that JL
> is
> > looking for is derivable with no leap of the imagination from the meaning
> > that the OED has already given.
> >
> > On Dec 27, 2010, at 8:02 PM, James Smith wrote:
> >
> > > Unless you mean "handcrafted" denotes made without tools, I have no
> > trouble accepting that the 4 items listed could have, in fact, been
> > handcrafted in 1952.  It may not have actually been so, but it is not
> beyond
> > credible belief.  Even today, a cheap man's suit is still largely
> > handcrafted.  Sure Ghia would have used stamps and presses to shape the
> > carrozzeria, but producing a finish worthy of the Ghia name would have
> > involved a lot of hand work, a lot of crafting by hand.  Same with the
> > crystal and watch.
> >
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