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When Did "Creative" Become A Noun?

by thunderbird
7 replies
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I find the use of the word "creatives" to refer to people in the arts to be oddly disturbing. I haven't been able to pinpoint why it bothers me. I guess it seems sort of non-human with an effect like "alien-inhabiteds" (my off-the-cuff invention just for this post). What is wrong with "artists" as a word? It is plain ignorant to think people in the arts are exclusively creative. A lot of creativity is often necessary for scientists or entrepreneurs achieve successful outcomes.
  • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
    "Creative" has been a noun for decades. In its most common usage, it refers to advertising copy or collateral as a unit.

    This is so old it's not even a question among those who are likely to use the word in that way. Granted, that's a fairly limited sub-set of the population, but still... They're big here.


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    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

      "Creative" has been a noun for decades. In its most common usage, it refers to advertising copy or collateral as a unit.

      This is so old it's not even a question among those who are likely to use the word in that way. Granted, that's a fairly limited sub-set of the population, but still... They're big here.


      Paul
      I'm referring to its use to refer to people. I have long seen its use for banners, posters and suchlike and it didn't consciously affect me much, but as a noun for people just strikes me as odd.

      (DISCLAIMER: I confess that did go to art school years ago and probably took on the grandiose assumptions of the importance of artistic pieces that were, let's face it, by and large more irrelevent and pretentious than actually "creative").
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      • Profile picture of the author fin
        It doesn't bother me, but maybe that's because I'm a logical.
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  • Profile picture of the author bravo75
    I think the hippies and/or the beatniks started it. It popped around the same time as "groovy", "heavy", "he/she knows where it's at".

    Before that, artists were called painters, sculptors, musicians etc.

    Perhaps LSD had something to do with it. People who started defragmenting the universe while under the influence were referred to as "creative" or "far out" etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Well, if you're into advertising or graphic design, creative as a noun has been around for as long as I can remember.

    As a designer, the work I submitted to clients was the "creative".

    As an advertiser, the ad is the "creative".

    It refers to the design/copy product.

    As for creative referring to people:
    http://goinswriter.com/what-is-a-creative/
    http://www.buzzfeed.com/generalelect...ure-a-creative
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  • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
    Originally Posted by thunderbird View Post

    I find the use of the word "creatives" to refer to people in the arts to be oddly disturbing. I haven't been able to pinpoint why it bothers me. I guess it seems sort of non-human with an effect like "alien-inhabiteds" (my off-the-cuff invention just for this post). What is wrong with "artists" as a word? It is plain ignorant to think people in the arts are exclusively creative. A lot of creativity is often necessary for scientists or entrepreneurs achieve successful outcomes.
    Well, TB, it could be worse...

    "Creatives" are better than "Artsy Fartsy Types", don't ya think?


    Terra
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