Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Language can be funny.

I like thinking about all the ways that the sign in a local shop window — “Craft Butchery” — could be read. Maybe the term is familiar to you, but it struck me funny. “We butcher arts and crafts”?

I guess it all depends on the meaning of “craft.” Small craft, as in small craft warning? “Hurricane predicted. Ignore this small craft advisory and invite craft butchery.”

If I saw the sign in Salem, I might conclude it was short for witchcraft butchery, but I still wouldn’t know if it was butchery by witchcraft or butchery of witchcraft.

Well, as you likely assumed straight off, the store sells cuts of meat. And the butcher is an artisan in his field.