Saturday, November 12, 2011

Artisanal Overkill

A fine example of corporate overuse is from April, 2011.

The New York Times interviewed James Goldman, the CEO of Godiva Chocolate. He felt the need to use the word 3 times (!!!) in 2 paragraphs.


click to enlarge

16 comments:

  1. An artisanal press statement

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  2. But it "links to the artisanal desire out there" - people WANNT it because it sounds so much better. :-/

    I vote for pronouncing it "Arti's Anal" when talking to a fan of this dreaded term. Let's see how long they think it sounds tasty. ;-)

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  3. sounds like a pompous artsanal-hole

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  4. That's ridiculous. I played the word artisans in words with friends the other day and thought of you.

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  5. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means - what you think it means."
    Sincerely,
    Inigo Montoya

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  6. You just know that this guy constantly urges his employees to "push the envelope" and "think outside the box."

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  7. Stabify. Artisanal stabbination.

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  8. artisanal thuggery. Or is it buggery? Sounds like an artisan-hole to me!

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  9. Artisanal is his middle name.

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  10. I actually do believe that artisanal used to have a meaning; I've heard professional chefs use it to describe their products.

    But now, it's just a meaningless word like fresh or natural, thrown in by marketers and hucksters. Godiva makes terrible chocolate. It's made expressly for tourists to San Francisco to take back to their home cities. If you go to a quality chocolate place, you can find 20 different makers with higher-quality stuff.

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  11. For some reason this reminds me of a very early memory of my curmudgeonly father pitching a fit over someone being described as "elfin-like."

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  12. Artisan pizza from Domino's.
    Heard a ad for it on the radio and immediately thought of Dr. Grumpy.

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/09/dominos-launches-artisan-pizza-line.html

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  13. Found this yesterday - artisanal salt. It is from the newspaper of my former city - as I read, I wasn't too sorry I have left!

    http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/lifestyle/a/-/food/11591637/recipes-artisanal-salt-gives-dishes-the-wow-factor/

    The effects of the first recipe sound positively frightening:

    "Your first bite will expand the boundaries of sensation separating your mouth from the rest of your body, and you'll be feeling spiciness in the warmth of your hands and smokiness in the tingling of your toes. And by the third bite your mind will have moved on to peel the black backing off the edge of the universe, filling the unending space beyond with your pounding heart."

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  14. Dr. G.,

    Below is a link to an article concerning the overuse of the word artisan:

    http://foodstuffsa.co.za/index.php/news-stuff/brilliant-international-innovations/1536-artisanal-how-overexposure-and-misuse-of-a-term-dilutes-its-meaning-and-value

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  15. I'm posting this on the Artisan Stuff blog that my friend and I run! http://artisanstuff.tumblr.com/

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So wadda you think?