Prescriptivism and descriptivism: vegetarian, vegan and dairy

[Benjamin Barrett]

1. vegetarian

Vegetarians may be ovo-, lacto-, pesco- or other sorts, but only "vegetarian" is found in the OED. The AHD has them, but only with a hyphen. Wiktionary has reasonably good coverage.

But none of those dictionaries provide a definition of "vegetarian" that includes people who eat fish or chicken despite widespread use of vegetarian to mean that.

The OED has:

One who lives wholly or principally upon vegetable foods; a person who on principle abstains from any form of animal food, or at least such as is obtained by the direct destruction of life.

The AHD (under vegetarianism):

The practice of consuming a diet that does not include the flesh of animals and is mainly composed of plant parts (such as leaves, roots, fruits, nuts, and seeds), along with fungi, and sometimes eggs and dairy products.

Wiktionary:

A person who does not eat animal flesh, or, in some cases, animal products.

2. vegan

Today, someone who works at a dessert shop informed me he double-checks with customers who say they are vegan because, as it turns out, many eat milk products and/or eggs. I say this falls under the category of misinformed, but words do change over time.

Also, the OED defines "vegan" to be only in connection with eating. The AHD and Wiktionary also cover non-food use of animal products, which is very frequently part-and-parcel of this definition.

3. dairy

A few years ago, some kosher-keeping friends told me dairy does not include eggs. I took that to mean that's how Jews define it because that's how it's relevant to their diet. Their theory was that dairy is often believed to include eggs because at the grocery store, the eggs are on display under the sign that says "dairy."

Recently, I looked "dairy" up on the OED and found that they were correct.

This week, I found myself on the other side of the fence when I called a pastaria (a word not in the OED/AHD/Wiktionary) and asked if any of their selections were dairy-free. The person answering the phone informed me that all of their pastas have eggs in them.

The OED, AHD and Wiktionary do not mention eggs in connection with dairy, despite this widespread understanding.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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