Using the Term 'Veg*n'

Lord Snot

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Pickle Juice bought up this point in another thread.

Veg*n is a pretty confusing term for people who haven't come across it before, which is a lot of people. But if we say vegetarian then vegans might feel excluded and if we say vegan, vegetarians will feel excluded. Blobbenstein suggested 'veggie', although to me that would only mean vegetarian and not vegan.

I would suggest herbivore which for me is either, but I've already seen people say that to them herbivore means vegan and not vegetarian. I doubt we're going to find any term that pleases everyone.

What should we use to be as clear and encompassing as possible?

I would say when people sign up, somewhere in the process, they're presented with a screen that says "Veg*n is an all encompassing term meaning vegetarian and/or vegan." so as they navigate the site, it's clear.
 
I think veg*n is good.

If there can be something like with VB that when you sign up it reminds you that you have to be veg, then I would stick it in there. But I wouldn't include too much stuff, because otherwise people might just agree without reading it. People do get confused about the term at first but it doesn't seem to be a big deal, if VB is an indication.
 
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I'm guilty of using it frequently since it's so much easier than typing out vegan/vegetarian. Sometimes I'll just use veg or veggie because I can see how veg*n can be confusing.
 
Yeah, just looking over the new vegetarians' help desk, I see no reason why "veg*n" needs to be used there. We can have threads in there for new vegetarians, and threads of a similar title for new vegans in the vegan section. I think someone going vegetarian for the first time will already be overwhelmed enough, and we don't want to give them the feeling that they should be going vegan if people who aren't vegan are welcome here.
 
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Yeah, just looking over the new vegetarians' help desk, I see no reason why "veg*n" needs to be used there. We can have threads in there for new vegetarians, and threads of a similar title for new vegans in the vegan section. I think someone going vegetarian for the first time will already be overwhelmed enough, and we don't want to give them the feeling that they should be going vegan if people who aren't vegan are welcome here.

This.

The language used in the help desk also seems to be quite vegan biased. I think I saw "animal secretions" and also something about animals still being killed for dairy and eggs. While it is true, I don't think it's helpful for new vegetarians to see something like that because it might make them feel like they're never going to be good enough for here so won't join.
Instead of "animal secretions" it should be "animal products" or something.
 
Veggie to me sound just like vegetarian. I dont think it sounds like it includes vegans.

How about veg/an instead?
 
I don't really understand why people can't use vegetarian. Vegans are vegetarians. I call myself a vegetarian.

Personally I don't like the word veggie. I don't know why, it just bugs me. Maybe because it's one of those words that I just can't say and sound natural. I'm not going to object to other people using it, or calling me veggie though, but it's not a word I ever use. I don't have a problem with veg*an except that it is confusing to new members.
 
I don't really understand why people can't use vegetarian. Vegans are vegetarians. I call myself a vegetarian.

Personally I don't like the word veggie. I don't know why, it just bugs me. Maybe because it's one of those words that I just can't say and sound natural. I'm not going to object to other people using it, or calling me veggie though, but it's not a word I ever use. I don't have a problem with veg*an except that it is confusing to new members.

I know what you mean. When it's important for me to be taken seriously (e.g. when I'm talking with omnis), I don't like to use "veggie". But amonst fellow vegetarians, I'm comfortable using it.
 
I think we probably have to put aside personal preferences and think what is best for the animals, meaning what will encourage people who visit the site to stay here and read on. For that reason I wouldn't want us to use a term that excludes or seems to exclude either vegetarians or vegans. We don't want to give the impression that we are only for lacto-ovo vegetarians or that we are only for vegans. We also don't want people to leave because they're confused about us using a term they don't understand.
 
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Im not overly keen on the veg*n term myself but dont think its too scary. Look how many lovely people introduce themselves by asking what it means : D

Maybe "Veg*n means vegetarian or vegan" should be our tagline? heheh
 
Honestly, I don't think it will drive anyone away. It's pretty obvious that it's something to do with the word vegetarian.

How do other mixed forums tackle this issue?
 
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I usually say Veg, When I say Veg I mean both Vegetarian and Vegans, My food is both Vegetarian and Vegan so I am in between them.
 
I think we probably have to put aside personal preferences and think what is best for the animals, meaning what will encourage people who visit the site to stay here and read on.

I agree. Whatever decisions need to be made here generally, it's good to keep in mind the end goal.

Once we have them here we can put on the pressure work our magic.

I also don't think using the word veg*n is a big deal or will drive anyone away. I remember thinking it was clever when I first saw it.
 
That's why I don't see the need for a special term that lumps vegans and vegetarians together in thread titles in that section.

I agree with that. (If this could be at all referring to when I labeled sections on the other thread, I just did that as a shorthand when I was typing, I didn't mean that I thought a section should be called "veg*n.")
 
I think if anything will put off new vegetarians it might be the concept that vegans aren't actually vegetarians, and are some other group. I would think referring generally to vegetarians and vegans as vegetarians, would help bridge that gap that seems to exist (on the internet anyway) of "vegetarians vs vegans", or the perception that vegans think they are better than vegetarians.

Really though I think in reality none of it will put new vegetarians off. I didn't have a clue what veg*ans meant for ages on VB and it didn't put me off, most people just skim over words they don't understand, or google them or ask. Maybe if someone put in an urban dictionary entry or something, when people google it it'll come up
 
I just Bing-ed it (I've decided it works better than Google in some instances) and I got this from Wiktionary:
veg*n

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Contents
English

Etymology

Also spelled 'veg*an', derived from vegan and vegetarian and the use in computer languages of * as a wildcard
Adjective

veg*n (comparative more veg*n, superlative most veg*n)
  1. Relating to vegetarians and/or vegans.
  2. Relating to vegetarianism and/or veganism.
Noun

veg*n (plural veg*ns)
  1. Vegetarian and / or vegan; a person who may either eat no animal flesh or eat no animal products at all.
Usage notes

Veg*n is generally used when referring to a group of people that includes both vegetarians and vegans.
Derived terms

See also