Yes, I realize someone who doesn't eat those things are called vegan. But why is the term "Vegetarian" used for those people that don't eat meat but still eat other animal-related things? Seems like a stupid term, "Meat-abstainer" seems more appropriate to me.
Posted Feb 27, 2016, 7:16 PM UTC
Vegetarianism is the practice of not eating meat. It does not refer to a vegetable-only diet. Fruit and bread and lots of other things are also not vegetables, but vegetarians still eat them.
I'm pretty sure the word "vegetarian" do come from people that ate a lot of vegetables, as do the word "vegan".
You do not answer OPs question. What you tell us is already explained in the OPs question.
Several decades ago, someone who ate eggs, dairy, and veggies would be called ova-lacto-vegetarian and someone who ate just veggies was a vegetarian. But that's too long to say, so vegetarian gradually came to mean either ovo-lacto-vegetarian or just lacto-vegetarian, and vegan now means vegetables and no eggs or dairy.
"Vegetarian" doesn't mean "A person who only eats vegetables." It means, "A person who doesn't eat meat."
Also, we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway, and the object we throw at in basketball isn't really a basket.
Words don't always mean exactly what their root words mean.
As I interpreted OPs question, it was not about what the word meant, but WHY we have a word that means something else then what it sounds like,
[removed]
These other comments simply define vegetarianism, but you already have that definition. You're asking why we don't use a more specific terminology, let me see if I can answer that.
Simplification for the sake of streamlining conversation.
You also gotta understand that the dietary classification more refers to what the majority of your diet consists of, rather than describing the entirety of what you consume. It's a broad brush, so to speak.
There are more specific terms used to describe wether they eat certain animal products or none, it's just that it's easier to use the larger category that they all fit into because it's easier to remember and has a large margin of error. For instance if I call "Becky" a Vegetarian, I'm correct regardless of wether she's full Vegan or someone who occasionally eats an egg. Also, as a general rule most people aren't interested in the specific detail of some random persons diet, and so rarely seek more specificity. As for why "Becky" would refer to herself as a Vegetarian rather than the more specific category is again for ease of conversation i.e. To avoid having to explain exactly what that specific category is to someone who is likely uninterested and just trying to make small talk.
Hope that helps.
We refer to a lot of animals as herbivores and carnivores. There are a number of herbivores that supplement their diets with the occasional bite of meat, and most carnivores eat at least some vegetation, even if its just to get a little fiber in their guts. Carnivore, herbivore and vegetarian work because they refer to the primary source of nutrition in a given diet, not necessarily the only source of nutrition.
Which is what I said.
I know, I was agreeing with you.
Ah. My bad.
Since most who have replied haven't even understood the question, I dare to give a speculative answer.
Once upon the time, all people who ate mostly vegetables were called "vegetarians", I would assume.
There were perhaps no need for grading and classifying different sub groups of vegetarians, according to the exact degree of what they ate and not.
Perhaps there simply were no vegans back then. One can imagine it was a small step in cooking skills to just stop cooking and eating animals, and continue cooking vegetables the way vegetables always have been cooked. And that meant butter in the pan, and milk in dough, egg in ice cream, etc,
I would guess it took a while before learning how to replace everything.
But it is hard to see exactly where the need for two words appeared.
Perhaps the word "vegan" is the result of a social phenomena where a certain type of persons (usually young people) feel a need for making a revolt against... everything. They really seek conflicts. The word "vegan" perhaps rose in order to create a "we and them", necessary for getting a fight. Just blending in into a larger uncontroversial group did not appeal.
[deleted]
To me it is obvious that OP already are aware of the definition of the word. That was not what OP asked about.
You're thinking of ovo-lacto vegetarians who eat free range eggs and drink free range milk. Or eat eggs laid by pet hens and drink milk from pet cows.
If you're looking for sense and consistency in language, you're going to be very disappointed.
Words often stray from what you might think they ought to mean. Best just to accept it and move on - you're never going to change it unless you found your own language - a course often taken but never successful.
And if you're looking for people to commiserate with you, go mention hoverboards anywhere on reddit.
Damn. Red wine all over the Scrabble board.