I’ve had some blowback on my preoccupation with this question. Barnes says “don’t be patronizing/manupulating,” Creveling says “of course it is,” Lopez and Sutton say, “sure, but we don’t need this,” and Karen says “get over it, this is getting tiresome.”
Maybe Metier — as Callenbach and Bensky have suggested — is a better word: métier . . . .a trade, profession, or occupation : those who work honestly at their métier.• an occupation or activity that one is good at : she decided that her real métier was grand opera.• an outstanding or advantageous characteristic : subtlety is not his métier. ORIGIN late 18th cent.: French, based on Latin ministerium ‘service.’ Oxford American Dictionary
That’s about work and money, of course, but there is more than that in this.
It is also about beauty, intense interest, carefulness, and art. Take a look at Vermeer’s marvelous painting of The Procuress below. At our our best, I think that is what we are about, too — buying and selling, beautiful presentations, intense interest and value, social pleasures. William McClung
