Pescatarian in dictionary
Posted by Allychristine on Aug 11, 2008 · Member since Dec 2007 · 15438 posts
"Pescatarian" has been added to the new addition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary (but still gets a red line for spell check).
Pescatarian (1993): vegetarian whose diet includes fish
the 1993 is the year that M-W first found it used in a publication
I don't know that I really like the definition........."vegetarian who eats fish......"
Do pescatarians think of themselves as vegetarians?
some do.....I know my dad and sister do....or at least did back in the 80's and 90's when there wasn't really a word like pescatarian.
What do you think of that definition?
I'd prefer it to read as one who prescribes to the basic vegetarian diet with the addition of fish....but that's just me....there's really no getting around the inclusion of "vegetarian" in the definition for the general populace.
"Vegetarian--a vegan whose diet includes eggs and milk."
The two definitions are equivalent to me, but I don't really care since neither impacts me--I know what I do and don't eat, and that's all I find important.
I used to eat fish when I first went "vegetarian." I was 8 and my mom and sister were "veg" and ate fish so I believed that it was okay. But then I kept on eating fish when I was older and knew better but still called myself a vegetarian because it was somehow easier that way. I probably should have said pescatarian but I didn't know the term. I don't like that people don't consider fish meat though. They're animals! My mom made me eat fish because she believed (and still believes) that it is very healthy and important to eat. I actually lived with someone for a little while who was supposedly vegan (and very into animal rights activism) who ate canned salmon once a week or month or something. I was appalled when he told me this. It's so weird how people make exceptions for fish. I know I used to do it too, but I don't even know how I did it, thinking back.
In terms of the definition of the word... it could be improved. Why not just say that it is someone who eats plants and fish but no other meat?
My thought is that those are people eat meat (fish) but want to call themselves vegetarian acknowlege the veg*n diet is better. I hope that their desire to be in the vegetarian realm means they'll eventually leave the dark side.
A long time ago my wife's sister was a vegetarian and her husband SAID he was a vegetarian, but he ate fish. I told him he was not a Vegetarian, he was a FISH EATER. Last week, he called me and told me,"remember how you used to say I wasn't a vegetarian because I ate fish? Well, I was a vegetarian and there is a word for it - Pescatarian!!" I again had to tell him he was a FISH EATER!
If you eat a creature that was alive and had the ability to move itself and then eat it after it has been killed for food, how can you call yourself a vegetarian?
Ask Merriam and Webster!
Pescatarian (1993): vegetarian whose diet includes fish
This strikes me as oxymoronish. When I was a pescatarian (and I really don't like the term), I NEVER considered myself to be a vegetarian, yet I've known people who ate both chicken and fish that called themselves vegetarians or semi-vegetarians. I recall one woman explaining to me that fish and foul are not mammals and therefore not "higher" animals, so it's ok to eat them. :o She was never able to explain to me how being a "lower" animal was equivalent to being a vegetable.
IMO, if you eat the flesh of any organism classified in the animal kingdom, you ARE NOT any kind of vegetarian!
My sister calls herself a vegetarian, but still eats fish. Her reason is that she likes the taste too much. I kept telling her it's pescatarian not vegetarian because I thought they were mutually exclusive. I guess based on this definition I'm wrong, and she really is a vegetarian.
Still I'll make sure she never finds this definition, because she really doesn't like the way pescatarian sounds and i like bugging her about it >:D
This definition is bad. Very, very bad.
Pescatarian - One who refrains from eating beef, fowl, lamb, pig, deer, rodents, etc., etc., but does eat fish.
Pescatarian - One who refrains from eating beef, fowl, lamb, pig, deer, rodents, etc., etc., but does eat fish.
Ah, but what about insects? Can pescatarians eat insects if the 'difference' is the brain size of the animal? What do you call someone who only eats plants and incects? Heh heh... :P
Pescatarian - One who refrains from eating beef, fowl, lamb, pig, deer, rodents, etc., etc., but does eat fish.
working off of this.
pescatarian - One who refrains from eating any animal except fish.
i always thought it would be weird to say im a vegetarian who eats fish. vegetarian- one who does not eat any animals. how can you not eat any animals AND eat animals at the same time? hmmmm
I have two family members that eat fish and call themselves vegetarian. They are both Catholic and insist that fish isn't meat. It creates a problem for me because the rest of my family gets the idea that it's ok to cook fish for me too!! One of them also eats venison (deer) occasionally and STILL claims to be vegetarian. I want to tell them both off, but I don't want to come off as smug...
I have two family members that eat fish and call themselves vegetarian. They are both Catholic and insist that fish isn't meat. It creates a problem for me because the rest of my family gets the idea that it's ok to cook fish for me too!! One of them also eats venison (deer) occasionally and STILL claims to be vegetarian. I want to tell them both off, but I don't want to come off as smug...
Have you tried an educational discussion (which might transition into a heated debate)? Ya know, just sit down and talk about it? There's no way around it..fish and deer are animals-->their dead tissue/body parts is meat. This is not smugness...
Hanashi, (I speak to you b/c you are the only pescatarian here I can recall...) do you refer to fish as meat?
Ok, even if they are not thought of as "meat," they are dead fish...
I have two family members that eat fish and call themselves vegetarian. They are both Catholic and insist that fish isn't meat. It creates a problem for me because the rest of my family gets the idea that it's ok to cook fish for me too!! One of them also eats venison (deer) occasionally and STILL claims to be vegetarian. I want to tell them both off, but I don't want to come off as smug...
Have you tried an educational discussion (which might transition into a heated debate)? Ya know, just sit down and talk about it? There's no way around it..fish and deer are animals-->their dead tissue/body parts is meat. This is not smugness...
I've tried to educate the rest of my family and explain to them why I won't eat fish...they seem to have a hard time comprehending it because they get to eat fish on Lenten Friday's (you're not supposed to eat meat, but fish is somehow allowed). I swear they think I'm making it up!
Do they understand that a fish is an animal?
icephrosty, some people are set in their beliefs. if they believe that fish are not animals. than fish are not animals. ha. maybe you could try and seperate it religiously/scientifically. religiously, fish are not believed to be animals(?), but scientifically, fish are animals and as a vegetarian, i do not eat animals.
I have a friend who calls herself "vegetarian" but eats chicken and fish/seafood (quite often, from what I can tell). It annoys the crap out of me. I was at a restaurant with her once and whenever something came out she'd ask if it was vegetarian, and the waiter would be like "um, it's chicken..."??? and she goes "yeah, that's ok."
Way to confuse the public, friend. People like her are the reason most of you have stories about being offered fish, etc. as a "vegetarian" option.
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