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Arty-fartyMeaningPertaining to, or having an interest in, the arts - often pretentiously and affectedly so. OriginThis UK term refers to the sort of artistic work or interest that the Bonzo Dog Band's Vivian Stanshall called "Art with a capital F". The variant preferred in the USA is artsy-fartsy. Arty-farty began to be used in the 1960s, and artsy-fartsy is recorded from the early 1970s. The use of the vulgar farty as the reduplicated variant of arty works well in puncturing the pomposity of the affectedly artistic types who are mocked by this term. See other reduplicated phrases. Phrasefinder is also on
Tudor Phrases and Sayings - a book on the meanings and origins of the phrases and sayings that Shakespeare and Henry VIII used that we use still use every day. |
