“Happy New Year! Trust you enjoyed your two-week stay in Goa.”

“We had a really good time. As expected, spent most of New Year’s Eve on the beach. What did you do? How did you ring in the New Year?”

“Ring in the New Year? I didn’t ring anything. I made sure that…”

“When someone asks you how you rang in the New Year, they want to know what you were doing on New Year’s Eve. How did you celebrate the arrival of the New Year?”

“I see. My friends and I got together and listened to old Hindi and Tamil songs. That’s how we rang in the New Year.”

“That sounds relaxing. Many of my friends threw a party. That’s how they rang in the New Year. A few of the parties were wild.”

“I see! Tell me, why do we say ‘ring in’ the New Year? What is it that’s ringing? Is it the phone or….”

“Definitely not the phone! In the old days, people used to gather in front of a church, and as the clock struck twelve, the bells used to be rung.”

“So, the church bells announced the arrival of the New Year. They literally rang in the New Year!”

“I guess you could say that. What kind of songs did you listen to? Did you…”

“Mostly from the 1960s. Tell me, how is the word artiste pronounced?”

“Artiste? The first syllable is pronounced like the ‘ar’ in ‘part’, ‘cart’ and ‘dart’. The second rhymes with ‘feast’, ‘beast’ and ‘least’. The word is pronounced ‘aar-TEEST’ with the stress on the second syllable.”

“I see. But in the case of the word ‘artist’, the stress is on the first syllable, right?”

“That’s right! It’s pronounced ‘AAR-tist’. Do you know the difference between ‘artiste’ and ‘artist’?”

“Is there a difference? I thought there was no difference between the two.”

“It’s true that not everyone maintains a distinction between ‘artist’ and ‘artiste’. But there is a difference in meaning between the two. The word ‘artist’, for instance…”

“The word ‘artist’ is mostly used with people who are good at something. It could be something like painting, dancing, sculpting, etc. M.F. Hussain is a well-known artist.”

“That’s a good example. Of the two words, ‘artist’ is the more common, and it is mostly used to refer to someone who excels at something. It doesn’t have to be just painting or drawing. A person who is very good at cooking can be called an artist as well.”

“My cousin Mythreye is an artist in the kitchen.”

“That’s a good example. It’s also possible to call a pickpocket an artist – if he really excels at it.”

“Really? That’s interesting. What does ‘artiste’ mean?”

“Careful users of the language normally use it to refer to someone who is a professional entertainer. He is someone who performs in front of an audience. An actor, dancer, singer, etc. who performs in front of an audience can be called an ‘artiste’.

“So, someone who learns how to sing at home, but never performs in front of an audience is an artist and not an artiste. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. But you have to remember that not everyone maintains this subtle distinction between the two words. Nowadays, there is a tendency to use ‘artist’ in all contexts.”

“Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.”

Al Hirschfeld

upendrankye@gmail.com