Okay, perhaps this is just a pet peeve of mine, but I can't stand it when people use the term ceramicist.
Bottom line? It's incorrect!
And it sounds dumb.
And it shows a general lack of respect for our profession and community.
The worst is when ceramists themselves use the term. Ugh! Even worse is that people have been using the incorrect term for so long that spell check doesn't even work on it...
I've told a million people and I'll tell everyone reading here:
Saying ceramicist is like saying artisist.
Get it? See, it is stupid.
I dunno... What does everyone else think? Is it silly for me to be so bothered?
Bottom line? It's incorrect!
And it sounds dumb.
And it shows a general lack of respect for our profession and community.
The worst is when ceramists themselves use the term. Ugh! Even worse is that people have been using the incorrect term for so long that spell check doesn't even work on it...
I've told a million people and I'll tell everyone reading here:
Saying ceramicist is like saying artisist.
Get it? See, it is stupid.
I dunno... What does everyone else think? Is it silly for me to be so bothered?
(image of work by Jet Mous via Apartment Therapy found by an image search on Google for ceramicist)
7 comments:
I am probably the worst person in the world to poll on this because grammatical flubs are like nails on the chalkboard of my soul but I agree, that is a big deal and a blow to profession. On the other hand, if you ever want to buy the domain notaceramicist.com , I bet you could.
LOL... That's hilarious. I think I should buy that domain.
Language is always manifesting itself. I'm gonna post this to slipcast. I hope that's cool.
Why is is gramatically incorrect? Both suffixes (-ic and -ist) are viable.
Doesn't really matter, I can't stand either of the two terms.
I call myself a ceramic artist.
Interesting. I'd say the artist example is better used to explain why ceramicist is more right than ceramist. An artist does art (minus the "ist" is what the artist does); a ceramicist does ceramics (minus the "ist" and pluralise is what the ceramicist does), whereas a ceramist would do ceram (i.e. nonsense).
Oxford English Dictionary only lists ceramicist as a derivative of ceramic as far as I can see: https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ceramic.
LOL... It's been a while (nigh six years) since I published this post. I'm glad to see it's still getting a response. I have to say, at this point in my life I agree with your point, Andy. I also could no longer give two... hoots. Ha ha ha. It's funny how we can get our panties in a bundle over certain things but now I find those same panties kind of relax as time goes on. Thanks for your input!
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