Is the word 'vegan' a good one?

[Korn]

I don't think the real problem is veganism itself, rather the negative feelings that other people have If people for some reason have negative feelings about the word vegan, don't you think that would happen if a new word would be made to, covering the same ethical values?

Since a number of people want to call themselves vegans or vegetarians without actually being veggies, at least some people have good feeling about these words....

[Cherry]

I think the word vegan is fantastic!

If a person tells me they're vegan, I think 'Wonderful! I'm not alone. This person shares my views and is likely to be sane.' If vegan is written on a food label or on a menu, I think 'Hooray! :D The chocolate cake has nothing horrible in it and I can actually eat it!!'

As people have already said, people would still feel hostile if they were so inclined whatever the word. The word 'vegetarian' has changed over time in public opinion, and hopefully the word 'vegan' will too as more people start to see sense/be a little more open minded.

[karmadust]

it's just a word, i think it's fine how it is (although i have major issues with people becomming possessive of it and trying to exclude others with the same ethics and beliefs who may manifest them in slight variations of mainstream veganism)

the only confusion i ever came upon is when my friend moved back from Oakland as a "Freegan", which is based on the same principles of veganism, and even more extreme than veganism, but is not actually veganism because they will eat animal products if they have not put money into the system that created the animal products (which they are against). i.e. they dumpster dive some cheese and eat it.

so really, if freeganism started becomming more mainstream, and people actually knew what it was, then i think veganims might become pretty cloudy and confusing...but honestly, that won't be happening any time soon, so no worries!

[Bic]

I used to hate the word vegan. I thought it was pronounced "veg-an" and "vee-gn" sounded like something naughty and clinical (er...I should note I was pretty young when I first heard the term), but overtime I've gotten used to it.

I sometimes call myself a herbivore. I also call myself a "vegetarian of sorts" if the person I'm talking to is probably never going to see me again. But mostly I just say, "I'm vegan." and let it sink in - explain if need be. :) Works for me.

[Mahk]

I sometimes call myself a herbivore. I also call myself a "vegetarian of sorts" if the person I'm talking to is probably never going to see me again.

Me too. At least the word "herbivore" gets the diet limitation needs expressed succinctly. I was never taught the word "vegan" in school, but I was taught "herbivore". I voted "no" because although I think there is no turning back now, the word "vegan" has so many issues that people bring up. How many of you have heard one of these? (In response to telling someone that you are a "vegan") :D :

"My brother just got back from Vegas. He won $100!"

"I thought Venus was too hot for life. Don't you mean Martian?"

"I get it. You're from the star system of Vega. Did you see that Jodie Foster movie "Contact"? Can you get me her autograph?"

"What do you eat?... Kitty-litter with raisins?"

"But where do you get your protein/calcium/iron/Vitamin B12?" [Korn, that one was just for you!:p ]

"But it says in the bible we have to eat Big Macs."

"You must not have heard of "the food chain":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ua129pv-eKE

"Don't you know Hitler was a.......how do you pronounce it again?"

"But you don't have to kill a cow to get its milk. And besides that, don't you know that if we didn't milk them they'd explode?"

:)

[howdawg]

How many of you have heard one of these (from someone you just told you were a vegan);) :D :

You avoid these with the word vegan? I got the same things as a vegetarian...

[Mahk]

You avoid these with the word vegan?
No, I'm saying the word "vegan" is not a good one because you get all these reactions! Perhaps I didn't explain it well. [edit: I just went back and tried to re-word it more clearly and deleted the wink emoticon, since I didn't want to denote sarcasm. My bad.]

These were all jokes, by the way. But I think we've all heard some variations on these.:)

[krystelynn]

I have a friend who thought that Vegan was a religion. When I explained to him (over the course of a few hours) what a Vegan actually is, a lifestyle more than anything, he FINALLY understood.

[Mahk]

Gee, your avatar looks awfully familiar.:)

[Roxy]

LOL When krystelynn was typing something in the organ donor thread earlier, I thought it was you talking Mahk LOL and I was thinking "I didn't know Mahk had a fiancee" :D

[krystelynn]

I didn't know anyone else had that avatar, so I changed mine so no more confusion.

[boomshanka]

'Vegan' is neither a good word or a bad one in my view. On the one hand it totally lacks any guts to fully describe the persons love of life, their compassion, ethics and so on, but on the other hand when someones tells me they are Vegan I feel instantly at ease with them.

To illustrate this when I took an injured animal to a wildlife rescue centre I was worried about the level of care it would receive. Will they do everything possible to help? are they doing it for the right reason? They seem nice but how do you know?
Well, I know they're Vegans now and I trust them implicitly. Every judgment they make about an injured/orphaned animals future is based on rock solid principles.

Would I have felt the same if they had been Vegetarians? Hhhmmm..not so sure.

Anyway, let's keep the word Vegan coz it's all we got!

I'll stop rambling now.

[emmy]

I just read a book “Thinking Points. Communicating Our American Values and Vision” and am in a process of reading “Don’t think of an elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate”, both by George Lakoff.
In my opinion, these two books are of tremendous importance for us here, on this forum, because, I would venture, we are mostly “progressives”, even “super-progressives” if you ask me, but also, and this is even more important, because these books can teach us how to reframe how we are perceived by the population and how we can convey our understanding of progressiveness and our values to the general population.
Is anybody here familiar with Mr. Lakoff? If yes, I would like to hear your opinions about his teachings and his books. It would also be interesting to discuss how to apply this knowledge to our cause.
For example, what if we stopped calling ourselves “vegans” and start calling ourselves “super-progressives”? Of course we wouldn’t do it, I understand that, but do you see how it changes the “framing” of our cause? How we got rid of all the negative connotations that we have accumulated over the years, associated with framing that we didn’t formulate, the framing that people who hate us came up with and built upon it over the last few decades? ( you know, the negative connotations I am talking about, don’t you? The weirdoes, the radicals, the angry, the fighting vegans, etc? ).
This is the power of framing.
Any thoughts on this? Do you agree that this knowledge could help our cause?

veganfever

I haven't read any of G. Lakoff's work although I am familiar with the name. I do agree with you that re-framing how we are perceived is a vital step for vegans, however, I don't think that it would be sufficient in eliminating the negative connotations that the masses link to veganism (as an aside, why am i being told to spell check 'veganism'?!). Anyway, my point is that society will have its views regardless of any renaming. In a perfect world, it would work. But as we know best, we live in a far-from-perfect world. People will continue to be negative, because they do not understand, because they do understand and feel guilty themselves....all sorts....but the backlash will remain. It seems to me a waste of energy to try and re-frame something like this - the energy would be much better used in trying to educate people about what veganism actually is. By promoting veganism itself as a positive thing, we can reduce the negativity connected to the word. I don't see how changing the word could make a difference alone....
(We'd just be "super-progressives, you know, those ones who used to call themselves vegans..." :D)

[trudatman]

I can't stand the term "veg*n." it's a cop out. it lumps vegans and vegetarians together, which I think is bad, because the differences are huge and important distinctions. to make it clear, I think the term "veg*n" is offensive and evil.

[crimson~noir]

Yes, it does the job fine.

I have no problem with the word - its just a word at the end of the day, we could be called squigglie tuffs its the meaning that counts. As vegan is now part of general language I find it easier to explain my morals/dietry requirements.

Question if any one can help why do some write it as veg*n and not vegan? Just curious:)

[Enchantress]

Veg*n means vegan and/or vegetarian.

[umbilical]

the german spelling sounds really nice in my opinion
......vegaaan like with a long A, and the G is spelled rather shortly.
but when i heard the english version, i thought it sounds horrible;)

[Redveg993]

I think it's a real shame that 'Essence' sees lacto-ovo vegetarians as hypocrites - it smacks of intolerance. We are all at different points on our vegan evolution. I know that it took me over 25 years to become a vegan - I tried twice in the 1980's and for various reasons I was not able to sustain this, although I believed, and still do, that the vegan diet is the most rational and humane for our planet. I knew that I would try again and that this time I would be successful.

I have now been vegan for almost three years and know that I will be so for the rest of my life. However, I am far from perfect and am there are still areas I need to work on, e.g. choices of cleaning product. So please do not be so harsh with people who are at least making an effort to live an ethical lifestyle - they need encouragement, not brickbats. Remember, the unfortunate truth is that most omnivores don't give a rats @rse about animals, people or the planet as they chomp away at their rare steaks!

[Herbsman]

I hate the word v***n, I refuse to refer to myself as it, or to say it in a conversation. It sounds like some sort of alien, or a cult.

[erfoud]

I wish only the "vegetarian" term were used, but implying the exclusion of any animal products or byproducts. The mere existence of both notions -vegetarian and vegan- makes the concept weird to the general public and it doesn´t help us convey the idea.
If others wanna take eggs, honey, cowmilk or whatsoever, let they add the "api", "ovo" or whatever to the term vegetarian. No , I don´t like this feeling of being pushed from the pristine vegetarian term

[cobweb]

i dislike the word vegan, too, and wish that vegetarian meant no animal products as i think the word is a good one but it's common meaning is crap.

[Korn]

I think vegan is a great good, especially since it has a long history (64 years and still going strong). Any newly invented word would suffer from not being known for many years before it possibly would catch with the level of recognition that 'vegan' is now.

[cobweb]

i wouldn't change the word now, Korn, anyway that would be disrespectful to our vegan ancestors - i just don't like the sound of the word, it sounds so alien-esque.

[maikeru]

Are you are thinking of Vogons?

Well I promise I am not one, thought my poetry is uncannily similar.

Michael.

[cobweb]

lets have a sample then!