The Uglier Truth--Critics

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

A good critic critiques in their review. They don't just criticize.

Some people in this thread appear to be using the word "criticise" as though it's purely negative. Criticism actually means judging and discussing both the merits and the faults of something. A literary critic is not someone who only points out the bad things about books.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Some people in this thread appear to be using the word "criticise" as though it's purely negative. Criticism actually means judging and discussing both the merits and the faults of something. A literary critic is not someone who only points out the bad things about books.

The negative sense is definition number one in some dictionaries, number two in others. I was using it in that negative sense to try to make the distinction. It is used that way, certainly, probably more than in the less negative sense that 'critique' seems to enjoy.

But I wasn't sure if some others were claiming that a critic, in the sense of a reviewer, is some one who is negative by definition, which they are certainly not, or if they are claiming they simply observe them to be so more often than not, which may be true depending one which critics you encounter.