Oy!, another person who has no clue the differences between a vegetarian and a vegan. I guess you can't blame him for his ignorrance, because even many dictionaries get it wrong.

Someone who does not consume any animal products is a vegetarian. Vegetarian is a diet. People who consume dairy or eggs are not vegetarian. The root of the word vegetarian is vegetation (NOT vegetables). A person is only vegetarian if they eat only vegetation. Dairy and eggs are not vegetation, therefore, they are not vegetarian. A person who consumes dairy and eggs is a lacto-ovo. Not a vegetarian.

A vegan is someone who actually cares about the animals, the environment, and their health. A vegan is someone who eats only a vegetarian diet and also excludes the use of all animal products from their lifestyle such as the wearing of leather, wool, down, the use of hair care products with animal products, etc. etc.

Vegan is a lifestyle, vegetarian is a diet. The author of this article is NOT a vegetarian.

This is not ignorance, just difference in usage. Many people define a vegetarian to be someone who doesn't eat meat. Milk and eggs are okay.

Many people also use the word "vegan" to mean a person who doesn't eat any animal products at all, including milk, eggs, honey, etc.

English doesn't really have a central authority when it comes to the meaning of words, so we have to rely on common usage. I'm pretty sure that the population has come down on the side of "Vegetarians can drink milk." Your particular sub-community may define the word differently.

In Chinese, the word for "vegetarian" can even mean that onions and garlic are prohibited!

I disagree with ur comment that vegans are the only ppl who actually care about the animals. Vegetarians totally care about animals,hence; we do not eat things that cause animals harm. Cows are not harmed from milking and eggs were not fertilized. Plenty of vegatarians,including me, refuse to wear animal products that have caused animals harm.

Misuse of the world does not change the definition. Many dictionaries state that the word vegetarian comes from vegetable. It doesn't make it correct. Vegetarian comes from vegetation. If you eat something that is not vegetation, you are not vegetarian. This is based on the etymology of the word and not the common misuse of the word.

A Su vegetarian is based in Hindu and Buddhist traditions and do not each garlic, onions, shallots, leeks, or scallions. You are not prohibited from eating these items if you are vegetarian in China. Only if you follow those specific Buddhist or Hindu traditions.

If you actually think cows are not harm from being milks or chickens from eggs, you need to do some serious research.

Here are some websites to help you get started:

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Can vegans use fossil fuels and still call themselves vegans? It's a product derived from dinosaurs, after all.

If you think that cows are harmed by milking and chickens harmed by laying eggs (as you insinuate), you might want to lay off the wheat grass for a while. Domestic chickens and cows are just that: Domestic, and they have been for thousands of years. Perhaps you should let your dog go "into the wild" instead of restraining it with a fence and leash.

Whats the primary ingredient for raising organic crops that are sold in supermarkets? Compost. Which is made of? vegetative waste and animal manure. Where can you get enough animal manure to fertilize an entire field? Feed lots. So if your organic vegetables use more manure than conventional farming whihc uses chemical fertilizers, who is doing the worse on that end? Think about it....you are part of the probelm, veg, vegan, omno, lavo, rhino, or straight carno.

Wouldn't it be great if there were a master dictionary sent from God that we could all check to make sure that we were not "misusing" words?

Unfortunately for communication (or fortunately, depending on one's perspective), languages are collaborative constructions, built and legitimized by common consensus. Just because another group uses a word in a different way does not make them wrong. Languages evolve to accommodate the needs of those who use them, and English is no exception.

You admit that the word vegetarian is commonly used to describe a person who does not eat meat. So, yes, that is what it means to a large segment of the population who use English to communicate. That may not be what it means to you, but if others use the word and are able to communicate their ideas effectively, then they are using it correctly.

I never said that a vegetarian in China is prohibited from eating onions or garlic. (Who would enforce this prohibition? The vegetarian police?) I said that the word for vegetarian in *Chinese* can also include a prohibition on garlic and onions. The point is, of course, that the same word can have several different meanings according to context. In Chinese the phrase "I am vegetarian" (or rather, "I eat vegetarian") can mean that one follows the Buddhist version, prohibiting garlic and onions, but can also mean that one does not eat meat, but will eat eggs and dairy.

Soooo...the dictionaries are wrong and the general usage is wrong but you are the one with the right answer?

Awesome. haha

I prefer the term "herbivore".

I myself am an omnivore, having found that the all-meat diet of the carnivore can be quite taxing on the heart and arteries when one is not required to chase down ones meals.