Amateur is NOT a dirty word.
This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I’ve blogged about it at least four times. In fact, I’ll start my rant with a quote of my post, Celebrating Words & Passing It On:
Amateurs are the best gift an art has. They are the biggest supporters, the most enthusiastic in the world of their art. They buy the most, they thank the artist, they encourage the artist.
They make the community. They are the foot soldiers. We would be NOWHERE without amateurs.
Back in the day, amateur was a noble word. Professionals were not regarded quite as nobly, because they took money for their art, while amateurs pursued their passions out of love. Remember when the Olympics were strictly amateur-only?
Remember how strict the Olympics used to be about an athlete accepting any money? The Olympics used to glorify amateurs, because being an amateur IS a noble thing to be glorified!
What has happened to the word, “amateur?”
The third definition is: a person inexperienced or unskilled in a particular activity.
I find that sad. It didn’t used to be that way.
I know and embrace that words evolve, but until we get another word that honors and respects the amateur as a noble thing again, let’s not lose the best of this word—or group.
Amateurs are the best of the best, the backbone and foundation of any art. They are the most enthusiastic, the best word-of-mouth-ers, and the greatest consumers.
Derogatory remarks about amateurs is biting the hand that feeds you. I mean, it’s like someone offers you CHOCOLATE for FREE, and you not only turn it down, but insult the gift-giver!
It’s also a back-handed put-down. We don’t need to boost ourselves up by proclaiming that X is the difference between amateurs and professionals, and thus prove that we are better than “them.”
Why is it that humans are always trying to find a “them” they are “better than,” as if that proves they are “in the right?”
Can we please evolve a little? Yes, I’ve been guilty of this, too. *hangs head in shame*
The next time we use the word “amateur,” let’s please consider whether we’re respecting someone or dissing someone.
What think you?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
It’s not a word I use often. Do you mean unpublished writers? I don’t call them amateurs. To me they’re writers who haven’t bee published yet. For new writers, I might call them newbies, but it’s not meant as disparagement. We were all new once. Some new writers are amazing with their first book. For the others, if they have the passion and perseverance they can learn how to be amazing too.
Edie, what I’m referring to is how often people say things like, “Only amateurs blah-blah-blah.” Or, “The mark of a professional is blah-blah. Otherwise, you’re just an amateur.”
Let’s see, here’s one from today on Facebook: “Trying to remember that it is our reaction to adversity that truly separates the men from the boys, or in this case the professionals from the amateurs.”
Or in a blog today, and I love this person and this person’s blog, but: “I got really ticked off because the advice she got from another published author painted anyone who used this one particular technique as an amateur.”
I never thought about it, but it’s so true. Somewhere along the line “amateur” has become a put down. That’s really annoying. I find myself distinguishing for people that I’m an “amateur” comedian, and an “amateur” writer, so they don’t think I’m too full of myself. Or, it’s as though I’m afraid to leave out the qualifier, because they’ll demand to see my credentials. Then they’ll say, “Aha! You’re an amateur! Kill the amateur! Burn her!”
Hmmm… Might have gone a bit far on that one.
It has! And it’s so unfortunate, Robin. And I hear you! The first thing people ask when I say I’m a writer is, “Are you published?” “Where?” “Can I find your books in the bookstore?”
It’d be so much easier to say “I just write for fun,” LOL.
I’d love that you say that, if the word still meant what it used to mean!
I have to comment on the Olympics thing. :/
Athletic competitions became popular with gentlemen in the late 19th century. But of course, a gentleman had to do it in a gentlemanly fashion. Any show of enthusiasm, or worse, actually working out in preparation for the competition, was completely uncool. A gentleman was expected to be suave and a bit jaded, not showing any low or crude enthusiasms. The gentlemanly ideal was to be able to stroll up to the site of a competition, shrug out of his immaculately tailored coat, win the footrace or whatever it was, then stroll away with his trophy, pretending all the while that none of it really mattered much.
The problem was that [gasp] commoners were entering the competitions too, often because there was some sort of prize, whether monetary or a medal or a cup or something. Commoners who did physical labor every day were cleaning the clocks of our ennui-ridden gentlemen, and that was Not Cool. So the gentlemen changed the rules for their (more prestigious, of course) competitions, eliminating cash prizes and declaring that anyone who’d ever received any money for any athletic performance was Not An Amateur and ineligible.
The concept was papered over with the glorification of the amateur, but the real purpose was to keep out the lower classes. Even later, into the twentieth century when the class aspect of the change had been forgotten, the amateur rules continued to serve their original purpose. Remember Jim Thorpe being stripped of his Olympic medals? The greatest athlete of his time was publicly humiliated because he was working class; short of money, he played two seasons of semi-pro baseball for pay before competing in the Olympics, and that made him ineligible for his pentathlon and decathlon medals. Wow, good thing they rooted out that dirty professional athlete!
In more recent history, Michelle Kwan’s family sold their house and moved in with the in-laws to finance their daughters’ skating. (And they’re not the only family of a world-class skater to have done so.) Todd Eldridge’s home town held bake sales and car washes and anything else they could think of to fund his skating. How many other kids (poor kids, lower class kids) had the talent and the desire, but not the family who could pay or the town willing to rally round?
Rory Burkhart could have been an Olympian, but her family was poor and she had to give up amateur skating and start coaching to help her mother pay the bills. I saw her skate in some of the pro-am competitions which were all over TV a decade or so ago, and she was wonderful. Other skaters spoke well of her, and everyone I heard offer an opinion believed she could’ve contended for a medal. Wouldn’t it have been great to have another black skater on TV and magazines and cereal boxes, serving as a role model? The only reason she didn’t was financial, and because of the amateur rules.
World-class competitive sports are incredibly expensive, with a few exceptions like running. Note which sports have medalists from poor countries — they’re mostly the running disciplines, because all you need is a pair of good shoes, and not even that for training. Figure skating? Hockey? Gymnastics? Skiing? All very expensive, and generally dominated by competitors whose families are either wealthy, or are willing to sacrifice significantly (like the Kwans selling their house) to keep their kids competing. And families like Rory Burkhart’s didn’t even have that option. If Michelle Kwan’s family hadn’t been middle class to start with, and owned a house which could be sold, she’d never have gone anywhere in skating, regardless of her talent; she’d have been watching the Olympics and World Championships on TV, next to Rory.
I agree with you that “amateur” isn’t a dirty word, in and of itself, and that amateurs greatly benefit most fields of endeavor. But let’s not buy into the rainbow-painted nostalgia for amateur athletics. Being able to make a living at it, or at least have a shot at paying some equipment and training expenses, means more people have a chance to compete. Surely that’s worth more than any dreams of amateur purity.
Angie
That is fascinating, Angie! I love knowing all that. And yes, there were many athletes that I mourned over, because they could not compete. Money is just as important to the well-being of an art as amateurs (and let’s not forget that a large portion of that money comes from amateurs, which is, actually, my point).
I’m not advocating “amateur purity,” whatever that is, LOL. It’s like our society has become obsessed with the idea that ONE PATH is the right one, and so much of our culture seeks to boost itself up by putting another down.
Surely there is a world where we can honor and respect and glorify the amateur and professional in the same sentence. We don’t have to choose “one path” as either the right choice or the better choice, and we certainly don’t have to put the other down.
I have been called a “hack” numerous times as an insult, and to this day, its my favorite complement.
I’ve called myself a hack several times. Hey, it takes a lot of skill to be a hack. A lot of skill and understanding.
I guess what has happened to the word amateur is that we live in a society where nothing counts except money. Most of my writing and other creative projects during my life have been strictly amateur, just for the love of it. I didn’t publish my sf fanzine, or draw mini-comics, or program text adventures with any idea of being paid, or with the intent that the activities would open doors or result somehow ultimately in something professional. And I put just as much work into the amateur work as the professional. Although, funnily enough, some of the first “professional” work I did was to sell some old essays I’d written for fanzines. At the time I wrote the essays I had no thought of selling them. I’d written them for friends’ zines. So were they amateur or professional? I guess when they appeared in a mimeoed free fanzine they could have been derided as amateur. But later they appeared for pay in magazines on the newstands. Obviously “professional.” Were they any different? Of course not.
Eric, we are a money- and success-obsessed culture. It’s really sad. I find it exhausting, you know? Can’t we just start out with respect first? If someone earns our disrespect, then fine. But at least, let’s start out with respect.
Amateur, from the French, for “lover of” or from Old French and ultimately Latin amatorem nom, amator, or “lover.”
Perfect, Mark.
I wrote about this in write with fire too. It chaps me to no end. Amateurs often produce outstanding work, because they do so out of passion and aren’t just trying to earn a paycheck. Good post.
I’m dying to get that book, Charles! I keep hoping it comes out in ebook.
Here’s a flip-side for you. A few years ago I took a grammar refresher/self-editing class offered through an RWA chapter. The instructor did an incredible job teaching and I gained much from her lessons. So, further down the road I recommended said instructor’s class to others and received this comment(paraphrasing here), “I only take classes taught by published authors.”
It appears that not only gaining “professional status” earns you money, but it also improves your ability to teach, making you magically smarter.
In today’s culture “professionals” are entitled people who get away with everything, while us mortal-amateurs stick to the rules. Being a pro didn’t make Tiger Woods any smarter, did it?
Kath, I hear you. I remember, when I joined RWA, there was a class taught by a woman who wrote and sold her first book. Which is great. Except… in her whole life, all the work and knowledge she knows is in ONE book. ONE year. And I’m supposed to “look up” to her? Pretend I’m an idiot and pretend she knows a ton?
I 100% agree though I didn’t no it until I read this fine post. I no doubt have used the term in a negative manner but I’m going to make every effort not to do so from here on out.
I’ve caught myself, too, Travis. I’m definitely watching myself, for sure!
I’m with Edie . . . and I generally think, like a LOT of words that have positive and negative connotations, it’s not ALWAYS positive and not ALWAYS negative. I am an “amatuer” astronomer in my backyard, but I will never be MORE than that. Doesn’t mean I don’t love the stars and planets, but my SKILLS are NOT the skills of professionals. It’s a case, I think, that sometimes a slight is intended–and sometimes not. Has no one here ever said, “I’m an amateur . . . fill in the blank . . . chef, artist, x or y”?
By the same token, the fact that in some realms someone is a “professional” means something. I ain’t taking my taxes to an amateur accountant, I can tell you that. There are amateur water colorists who may be passionate for what they do, and that’s great, but I might not BUY their paintings because they suck. LOL! Versus I might see a truly magnificent painting from someone whose SKILL is now on another level and thus is a PROFESSIONAL because their skill means I pay good money for the thrill of owning something that beautiful and hanging it on my wall. I can also (like my neighbor) meet people who do it for PURE passion, but are just as good as painters I see in galleries. Again . . . LOTS of gray.
AND . . . to go to Kath’s comments . . . that’s just a rude way for that person to have put it. On the other hand, you know, sometimes there are really solid reasons why someone is not employed as a professional editor–and I honestly can’t TELL you how many times I’ve been called in by publishers to “clean up” the utter MESS a well-meaning by not particularly good “amateur” editor has created on someone’s manuscript.
So I see both sides.
There’s a difference between differentiating between professional and amateur work and differentiating between sub-par and skilled work.
I mean, who is going to buy the astronomy books that the more highly-skilled astronomers write? You. And how are you going to feel if they go around putting people like you down all the time? If every time someone offers sub-par astronomy work, they disparage people like YOU? They put you down and scoff and bat at you like you’re the most irritating sort?
Skill is not the difference between amateur and professional. By definition, the only difference is money.
I get what you’re saying… But unfortunately the word means something different than it used to. I’m in favor of using it the way most people understand it today. But we can still be gracious when we use it!
Gracious sounds good to me. And I don’t think the first two meanings are yet lost. It’s particular scathing in the writing community, and I think we have time to correct it.
Natasha:
I “hear” you but, like Alexis commented, there’s vernacular . . . how it’s used. And there is, and forgive me here, a difference, often, between INTENDED slights and completely unintentional slights. Most people who say, “I’m an amateur chef” are not saying “I am a subpar chef.” Most people who say, “I am an amateur” painter are not owning up to being lousy. They mean they are unpaid, but passionate about it. And there is nothing wrong with it. I think as writers, many people are sensitive about their “status” in the real and/or imagined pecking order of the writing world and it causes BOTH oversensitivity–and for some, REAL snubs. Without reading every intentioned use of the word on every blog, it’s impossible to extrapolate this word to the wider world, in the way you intend it. Just my opinion.
Exactly. That’s my point. We need to keep and use the unpaid and love meaning, but stop using it to mean “subpar” work.
I compare it to the music community. I’ve heard many professional musicians reassure amateurs that yes, indeed, they are musicians. They embrace the amateur, because they want and welcome all the support they can get. (Please don’t tell me that’s changing among the set your daughter’s age!)
Whereas the writing community is SO disparaging of amateurs. Everything is about being published, and the unpublished are often unwelcome. Encouraging enjoyment of writing as an amateur is completely discouraged. And, frankly, the writing community is obsessed with a pecking order, and putting people down who don’t have the right credentials or goals or whatnot. It’s crazy.
Any art needs the amateur as its greatest supporters and financial foundation. It perplexes me to no end how actively writers discourage it, and worries me when we disparage them and use them as a put-down.
It’s biting the hand that feeds you. And it’s sad. We should be encouraging a love of writing, period. Not putting down a whole group of people every time someone does work we consider “subpar.”
The measure of a great blog post is in its response. Natasha, you have struck GOLD with this one, lol.
In defense of the unpublished author who taught grammar and self-editing, she has a B.A. (or maybe M.A., not really sure) in English and works for a publisher of law books. (She has since gotten a publishing contract for three books.)
Anyway, sure there’s a difference between amateur and professional, but there’s nothing worse than an un-professional professional.
LOL, Kath! I only wish I’d been around to reply!
I am so with you on this, Natasha! This is one of your best posts ever.
Awww, thanks, Rick!
I’ve done my best to aim all my workshops and classes at amateurs, the ones who need and crave the most help.
That’s nice of you, Betsy!
I’ve always felt the only difference between the amature and professional was the pay and a bit of luck. There but for the grace of God go I…
I’ve seen some amature produce beautiful work.
Technically, it is just pay.
Although, it takes a bit of luck to get paid, so you’ve nailed it! 
Aimless, you’re so right.
And really, when do you pass the threshold of amateur into professional? When you get the first dollar? When you make a few sales? When you can support yourself (snort)? When you are on Oprah?
Betsy, good point!
What’s that great thing you say to your kids? Darn, I forget.
I think it’s the same thing. We need to worry more about our own writing, instead of trying to police the writing community and see who is real, who is not, who is professional, who is amateur, or this, that, and the other, LOL.
I’m late to the party and don’t have anything to add — I just wantd to say this is a great post!
Thanks, Melanie!