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Jobb Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Trade craft?

Would you like to tell me what does "trade craft" mean below?

Context:

"A series of failures, particularly in analytic trade craft, led to the mischaracterization of intelligence" about Iraqi weapons programs, the committee concluded, according to the report. Cin
  

Top answer

Trade or craft usually refers to specialized skills or knowledge. book=Dictionary&va=craft&x=16&y=14 "]craft[/url]. 1 : skill in planning, making, or executing : DEXTERITY 2 : an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill 3 : skill in deceiving to gain an end 4 : the members of a trade or trade association So what this sentence is saying is....

  • Trade or craft usually refers to specialized skills or knowledge.
  • book=Dictionary&va=craft&x=16&y=14 "]craft[/url].
  • 1 : skill in planning, making, or executing : DEXTERITY 2 : an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill 3 : skill in deceiving to gain an end 4 : the members of a trade or trade association So what this sentence is saying is....
  • " The trade and/or craft is intelligence gathering.
  • After many years of experience, you will have developed a network of contacts that will provide an accurate asseessment and you will be better able to determine valuable information from noise.
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4 Answers
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Trade or craft usually refers to specialized skills or knowledge. Here is the Merriam Webster definition for [url="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=craft&x=16&y=14"]craft[/url].

1 : skill in planning, making, or executing : DEXTERITY
2 : an o
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Still, there is one thing remaining a puzzle for me. That is, according to your explanation -- trade equals to craft here, I could not understand why the writer wanted to put the the same words together. Why not drop one of them to make the description terser?
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Jobb,

Ah hah! Go to Merriam-Webster dictionary for [url="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=tradecraft"]tradecraft[/url] and you will find the following:

Main Entry: trade·craft
Pronunciation: 'trAd-"kraft
Function: noun
: the techniques and procedures of esp

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