Carted off to Jersey

I don't do well with deadlines. Peg's email plea to participate in a two-day charette to complete our spring issue triggered some anxiety. But she was clever, providing just enough background on the term "charette" to hook me. She explained that architecture students know that a charette is a challenging exercise that forces them to work together to meet a short deadline. Architects adopted the French word for "cart" based on the tradition of wheeling a cart around to pick up results at the deadline.

Our editor's cunning tactic played on my curiosity about words, and my appetite for scavenger hunts on the world wide web. Why a French word? Why just architecture students? I volunteered to write a short piece that answers these questions as my contribution to our two-day charette. With the web at my fingertips, this would be a snap!

First I tried the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary¹ , certain that it would answer both questions. It didn't. According to the OED, the word is obsolete, and its only meanings are "a wheeled vehicle or conveyance" and "a war-chariot (in biblical or classical use)." The OED identifies the French origin as the word for "cart," but gives no clues on usage to mean an intense effort by aspiring architects to meet a deadline.

Thinking only American architects use the term, I tried web searches of several American English dictionaries, but didn't do much better. Most don't include "charette." A few do, and they agree that it is an all-out effort to complete a project in a very short time, but disagree about confining the effort to architectural design. None clarifies why a French word is favored by architects.

Frustrated, I tried wider searches using my favorite search engines and tactics to focus on architecture or education. Finally, I got some useful results. The web site of a company that offers charette design services (www.masterplanning.com) includes a brief history of "charette" that makes both the architectural and French connections. It states that in the 1800s architecture students in Paris rushed their drawings to the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in a charette (cart), and usage of the word broadened, first "to describe any intense, short-term student design project," and now "to describe any intense, on-the-spot design effort."

Were there other sources to support this history? One search result listed the "International Pedestrian Lexicon" site, described as a "guide to pedestrian and traffic-calming terminology around the world." (See http://user.itl.net/~wordcraf/lexicon.html) This sounded intriguing, if nothing else, so I took a peek. The lexicon entry for "charette" reinforces the Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts connection and adds that "projects were collected at designated times on a cart where students would be found putting finishing touches to their schemes."

Should I trust the authority of a site about "pedestrian and traffic-calming terminology?" A link on the page identifies the Jersey Pedestrians Association as the owner. Thinking that New Jersey could certainly use some traffic-calming, I clicked on the link to check out the owner. The home page of the Jersey Pedestrians Association mentions that "the Island needs a better deal for pedestrians." Suddenly I realized that I wasn't in New Jersey anymore.

Digging deeper, I tried the "Walking in Jersey" link. There I discovered that "the existing ped precincts are congested and do not provide a high-quality ped experience." Also: "We lack a proper acceptance of transportation hierarchy." In addition: "Pedestrians should be valued as a primary mode rather than (as is usual) regarded as a nuisance that 'holds up the traffic'."

Delighted with the language, and charmed by the concern for pedestrians, I probed deeper, hoping for more quirkiness as I tried to confirm that I had stumbled onto the Island of Jersey in the English Channel. In the "Word from our Founder" section I discovered that Simon Crowcroft's traffic-calming crusade takes inspiration from his son being hit by a car in Bath Street. This was serious stuff. Nevertheless, I smiled at his encouragement to everyone on the Island "to drive more slowly ourselves, for starters. Don't curse those rush hour tractors: bless them." But I had to wonder about this:

Let me put it bluntly: as a motorist I always give way to pedestrians, no matter how many Ford Escorts are tail-gating me, except, I guess when I'm on Victoria Avenue.

To check whether Simon Crowcroft is an authoritative souce of lexical claims, I clicked on his name. His personal home page reveals an association with the Jersey School of English, and deeper pages confirm that the school is on the Channel Island of Jersey. Jersey tourism web sites are but a click away. But, still curious about Simon, I backtracked to his "Missing Persons Page." There I discovered a message to his missing brother: "The fatted calf has got BSE and may have to be slaughtered before your homecoming." The entry for another missing person indicates: "We got on well, saving each other from the clutches of the perverts in the dormitory - after lights-out "rooting" (Aus. slang) was their favourite pastime..."

Recovering from this digression into personal territory, I returned to the Jersey Pedestrians Association page. I resisted the link to the "European Charter of Pedestrian Rights," but appreciated learning that there is such a thing. After reading a few of the "Poetry in Motion" poems about walking, and browsing the list of links to other walking sites, I quit for the day, knowing that I still had my charette assignment ahead of me.

(1) Access to the OED contents requires a subscription. If you don't have a subscription, perhaps your local library or workplace does. My access is courtesy of a book club web site, where I am a member.