Arts & Literature Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Citations in the Category Arts & Literature

Art, painting, sculpture, literature, books, writing, criticism, etc. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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blovel n. “Dog Days” is predicated on the thought that it is a short leap from a blog to a blovel. [ Language English Subject Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Jan. 3, 2006)

briffit n. Mort Walker of “Beetle Bailey” fame invented a cartoon vocabulary called Symbolia that we cartoonists make use of from time to time.…Briffit—the cloud of dust that appears when a comic character is running fast. [English Arts & Literature New or Nonce] [full cite] (Feb. 2, 2006)

bulllcrit n. Bullcrit is what you call an opinion someone expresses about something—usually a work of art, but, really, it could be anything—about which that someone has no actual firsthand knowledge or experience. [ Language English Subject Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Oct. 17, 2005)

cartoonal adj. For one thing, the paintings look, for the most part, like inanimate objects. Sillman describes one, aptly enough, as resembling a mattress strapped to the roof of a car. At least the drawings look like people, however cartoonish (or “cartoonal,” an artspeak neologism the artist seems to prefer). [English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Apr. 1, 2008)

claypainting n. [Joan] Gratz pioneered the animation technique known as “claypainting.” Working with bits of clay as if they were oil or acrylic paint, she blends colors and etches fine lines to create a seamless flow of images. [English Arts & Literature Media] [full cite] (Aug. 27, 2005)

cliché-verre n. Photographer K.E. Duffin used a technique called cliché-verre to create her winning photograph called “Anatomy of a Hero.” [French Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Jul. 15, 2005)

colorscript n. Colorscripts are horizontal scene panels produced in a variety of mediums, from marker to pastel to paint and collage, which convey the animator’s vision for lighting, mood, and even costumes for a particular scene. In their most succinct form, colorscripts serve as a shorthand version of the entire film in a single board. [ Language English Register Jargon Subject Arts & Literature Entertainment] [full cite] (Dec. 15, 2005)

craftivism n. This holiday season, consider the latest crafting-community buzzword: craftivism, crafting for a cause. Whatever your skill level or your cause, there’s a way to match your handiwork with someone who really needs it. [ Language English Subject Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Nov. 27, 2005)

crosstown dance n. For years the label “downtown dance” has been used as a vague shorthand to describe certain choreographers, usually experimental ones working on a shoestring budget. But most of the downtown choreographers (who generally loathe that label) have long since fled Manhattan for affordable housing and rehearsal space in Brooklyn or one of New York City’s other boroughs. [New York City English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Jan. 1, 2007)

damselling n. In his essay on Robert Walser, Coetzee refers to the pleasure the writer got from “damselling,” which he defines as “experiencing a feminine life imaginatively from the inside.” We are probably safe in saying that Coetzee is not damselling, as Anya appears to have the soul of a performer in a burlesque show. [English Arts & Literature] [full cite] (Jan. 4, 2008)

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