THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS VEGAN

Thomas, there is such a word as Vegan. Not being in the dictionary does not mean it does not exist, have a meaning, is a part of speech and is widely understod. A dictionary entry for it would be, Vegan: (N) coined circa 2006. 1. A person who eats no animal derived food. A strict vegetarian contrasted with a vegetarian who consumes eggs, milk, butter and foods prepared in animal fats.

Karl: I agree. Anyone can coin a word. Whether it is accepted and generally used is a matter that only time will tell. New dictionaries cite Rocky Graciano as a source on at least one word. I am not sure that I agree with gutteralizing the language this way, but it is the current practice. Of course, there are a lot of "current practices" which are simply bowing to the lowest common denominator in our society and which leads to the degradation of both the society and the language.

Karl's right, Thomas. A vegan is a subset of vegetarian. You can tell because they're crankier. :)

One of the definitions for 'vegetarian' is: 'consisting solely of vegetables'. We have no need of jargon or junk words made up on a whim. This only contributes to the prostitution of the English language.

Thomas I didnt realize that you owned the company that makes the dictionary. Interesting.

Anyway you should borrow one from your company...you have a couple of typos in your thread:)

Definition: Vegans do not eat meat of any kind and also do not eat eggs, dairy products, or processed foods containing these or other animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin. Many vegans also refrain from eating foods that are made using animal products that may not contain animal products in the finished process, such as sugar and some wines. Although there is some debate as to whether certain foods, such as honey, fit into a vegan diet, if you are cooking for other vegans, it is best to err on the side of caution and avoid using these foods.
Perhaps the most common question about veganism is "What do vegans eat?" A vegan diet includes all grains, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruits and the nearly infinite number of foods made by combining and preparing them. Many vegan versions of familiar foods are commercially available, which means you can purchase vegan hot dogs, ice cream, yogurt, cheese and mayonnaise. Most vegans also avoid the use of all products tested on animals, as well as animal-derived non-food products, such as leather, fur and wool, whenever possible.

What Lori said. There most definatley is a word Vegan! I happen to know a couple of Vegans and a few Vegetarians too, they are very different in what they eat.

And I just looked it up in my Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary, it is in there!

There are also Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians.

And then there are Omnivores with Carnivorous Tendencies, like me!

Faddists! (No, I didn't say Fascist, I said Faddist)

Lori: I have no typos; I don't make typos. But I do make up new words, or change the spellings of existing words to put in my dictionary.

Ahh now I see Thomas....so the words are wrong not you...how very clever of you.

Okay..

Merriam-Webster online:

Vegan

Function: Noun
Etymology: vegetarian

a stict vegetarian who consumes no animal food or dairy product; also: one who abstains from using animal products (as leather)

Date: 1944

"Online". Ya, I thought so. There's no such word as 'online'.

Are you drinking again, Thomas?

Yes, Mary. I drink only pure vegetarian drinks. That's what makes me smarter than a head of lettuce.

Jeff: That's like calling an American a Yankee. 'Vegetarian' will do just fine for me.

Vegan is different than vegetarian...

Is there a word for people who don't eat tomatoes on Wednesdays? No? Well, should we invent one?

Thomas, I'd agree with you but I can't take the beating up you're getting! Vegetarian covers the person who lives strictly off of vegetables, fruits, etc., without using dairy or eggs. You don't need a second word, although I've come to recognize what people feel is the difference between vegetarian and vegan.

Now, the real question is, why on earth would anyone want to live like that? Fish oils alone would "break" the code of vegan but provide very needed nutrients for the human body. And meat is the only source of all the amino acids needed by the human body and in just the right quantities.

Besides, man is a predator and meat tastes good! "Textured vegetable protein" is one of the more ghastly things I've tried more than once to stomach.

James: As usual you make enormous sense. I couldn't agree with you more. Here is a case of my whimsical mood coming into play. This time I am being half serious and half foolish. It seems I have stirred up a few people. And this is why I need a second persona on Gather. And, no, I don't have a dual personality; I'm quite sane I assure you. But I do love to communicate.

Wait, a Vegan isn't simply one who eats vegetarians? Oh no, I've been using it wrong! I need to stop calling myself a Vegan then!

I can appreciate the problems of using an older dictionary that hasn't been updated. During the 1970s I worked with a number of dictionary editors (along with Darrell Elliot and a few others in "The Dictionary Project" to enlarge their words (some words are dropped out of the popular versions because of low usage). One of those words was 'vegan' - other related words have since appeared (soyfoods, soymilk, etc.)

Clark C. Livensparger (born in Ohio, where I was reared), Editor of Webster's New World Dictionary, and others agreed that the words vegan, soymilk, soyfoods, etc. should be included.

The word vegan was coined, to be sure, as all words are.
http://www.foodsforlife.org.uk/people/Donald-Watson-Vegan/Donald-Watson.html
The word was coined by (the late) Donald Watson around 1944 to distinguish it from the word vegetarian, where 'meaning drift' had affected the ability of pure vegetarians to describe themselves effectively.

Q: When did you first become a vegetarian?
A: It was a New Year Resolution in 1924, so I haven't eaten any meat or fish for 78 years.

Q: Tell me about the early days of the Vegan Society.

A: In the two years before we formed a democratic Society, I literally ran the show. From the response that I had - thousands of letters - I feel that if I hadn't formed the Society someone else would have done so, though it might have had a different name. The word "vegan" was immediately accepted and became part of our language and is now in almost every world dictionary, I suppose. I can't help comparing our attractive quarterly magazine with my humble "Vegan News" which I produced at great labour. Normally I spent a whole night assembling the various pages and stapling them together. I'd limited the number of subscribers to five hundred because I couldn't cope with a bigger number. Compared with democracy, dictatorship has obvious advantages. In the early days of "Vegan News" I could do everything my own way. I don't think I could have survived if I
had had to write to the few people concerned and ask for their opinion. I had no telephone and no motor car - I could only hope that they would see my point, until I handed over the work to a committee.

Millions of people worldwide are called Vegans, as I am. It is a logical extension of the vegetarian philosophy, and, while veganism is as old as the species, the term 'vegan' was (as far as we know) coined by an England man named Donald Watson sometime in or before 1944, the year before The Vegan Society (UK) was officially founded.

The appearance of sao many organizations with the term 'vegan; in their titles is foundation for recognizing the salience of the term and letting those who describe themselves with in a socially organized way define its meaning. There are rights-based ethical veganism (neo-Kantian), consequentialist ethical veganism (utilitarian), dietary veganism (sometimes called pure vegetarianism, particularly when it does not include the principled, altruistic ethical content), and the various dietary variations (raw food veganism, fruitarianism, etc.).

Maynard

Maynard: Many thanks for your enlightened explanation. I concur fully.

I was wondering if there were any cosmetics and soaps that don't utilize animal fats as one of their basic ingredients.........tallow-hide.......rendered animal fats..........

Look it up in your (((disctionary))) if you don't believe me.

A vegan is someone who abstains from consuming or using animal products. Someone who does not eat animal products is not necessarily a vegan. Vegans refrain from other animal products, like leather and wool.
It is impossible to be completely vegan, because animal products are in so many things that are necessary in everyday life. For instance, asphalt contains animal fats.