It's Freckles.

/kraft/

Noun: An activity involving skill in making things by hand.
Verb: Use skill in making (something): “he crafted the chair”; “a beautifully crafted object”. 

I have such a problem with that word. It has such a perfect meaning, but such an awful typical application. 
“Crafting” should imply skill and talent and beauty, but instead implies dabbling in cheesy materials, scrap-booking (don’t get me started) and bedazzling. 
 I have an entire, beautiful, much beloved room devoted to crafting, but I can’t bring myself to call it that. “My craft room”. 
-And it’s true, I do make cards and sew and wrap and “craft” in that room, and by no means am I a professional at any of it (Ok, maybe wrapping, but no one’s paying…), but that word still galls me. “I like doing crafts” or “She’s very crafty” sounds like the person enjoys crocheting toilet roll covers and decoupage. And who am I to judge, I guess? I’m certain there are some beautifully crocheted toilet roll covers out there and some fabulous decoupaged items…

I have a friend who objects to being called a “foodie”, even though, technically, I think the word applies. The kind of person who loves cooking and eating and making *everything* from scratch, including cured meats and preserved… whatever. He even writes (along with a friend) a rather lovely food blog, for crying out loud. And yet he objects to the term. I’ve never really asked why, but I’ve assumed that one of the reasons is because it’s been cheapened for him in some way. It also sounds somewhat pejorative and dismissive. -Whether or not I’m right about that, I can relate. 

I’d like to be able to “take back” the meaning, to re-appropriate it, but I think it’s too late. Forever tied scrap-bookers.*

Now excuse me, while I go clean my ahem office.



*I can’t even explain what I have against scrap-booking! A mere hop, skip and jump from what I do when I make cards, but a crocodile infested mile away when measured by my personal-taste yard stick. Perhaps I’m just a snob. I can probably live with that.