Re: REHEATING THE "PALEOARTIST" DEBATE

[Scendan@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-06-08 20:35:18 EDT, franczak@ntplx.net writes:

<< It goes beyond mere confusion, however. Re: Mr. Penney's observation, a
 biologist is someone who studies life; it logically follows that a 
 *paleobiologist* is someone who studies *ancient* life. By the strict
 Webster's definition, an artist is "a person who is skilled in the fine
 arts, esp. in painting, sculpture, etc."; a "paleoartist", therefore,
 would be "a person who is skilled in the *ancient* fine arts". Again,
 what exactly does this mean? IMO, nothing; it is still a nonsense word.  >>

::Decloaking from lurker mode::

Well, I agree that the etymology of "paleoartist" is murky, to say the least.
However, it is a term I have heard bandied about quite a bit of late.
Unfortunately, it seems that "buzz words" are an inevitability in "the biz,"
(ducking and running after using that last blatent bit of verbal echoing) and
that, as terms go, we could end up with a lot worse than "paleoartist."  It's
fairly innocuous and not as cartoonish as, say, "dino-drawer," which is cutesy
and even more inaccurate!  <g>

Carolyn Staehle
(Up and Coming...wince...Paleoartist...)