As long as The Straight Dope is out there fighting ignorance, perhaps a common oversight involving the word “animal” should be addressed. In answering the question “Is the camel the only animal that can’t swim?” you never paused to address the many birds, reptiles, insects, arachnids, and other types of animals that are lacking in aquatic locomotion. You went right along with the unspoken assumption of the question that only warm-blooded furry things count as animals.
To be fair, my American Heritage dictionary gives as its second definition of animal “An animal organism other than a human being, esp. a mammal”. It seems, however, to be an all too-common limitation of the imagination not only to fixate solely on this limited second definition, but essentially to rule out the much broader diversity of animal species from consideration.
Speaking of plants, what about animals that might as well be plants, like sponges, corals, and sea cucumbers? (Several species of voter in Florida could be included, but that’s another discussion. ) Can these be said to swim, or are they just wading and soaking?
Hey, ya know we do have a word limit for these things. I did mention eagles, but sorry I didn’t touch all the species in the animal kingdom! But if you search the MB, you’ll find we’ve discussed most of em in regard to swimming skill. - Jill
A vegetarian does not eat entities from the kingdom Animalia. In discussions among vegetarians, the most common complaint is the widespread assumption that vegetarians eat fish and even chicken. Somebody serves them chicken and says: “I prepared it specially for you 'cause I know you’re vegetarian.” Then you have to patiently explain what “vegetarian” really means. They get surprised and say: “My cousin Priscilla’s friend says she’s a vegetarian and she eats fish” (or chicken, or whatever).
I guess it’s a free country and you can call yourself whatever you want. You can call yourself “Witch-Empress of the Galactic Confederation” for all anyone cares. But to go around calling yourself “vegetarian” when you eat fish or chicken is to spread disinformation that makes the lives of vegetarians harder, needlessly.
ishmingtas, I believe that confusion does not arise because of a mistaken idea about animals vs. mammals. There is some confusion in the use of the word vegetarian. Some people have applied that word to their own restricted diet in that they do not eat red meat, but do eat fish and chicken. This is a confusing practice that is a misnomer. I suspect it is because there is no simple word for non-red meat eater. The people who first did so likely coopted a word they knew because they didn’t have one.
Within the realm of vegetarians that do not eat animal flesh, there are still variations that have various other limitations. Some will eat dairy products, some will not. Eggs probably belong in the category of meat - I’m not sure how different vegetarians treat them.
All of this from a non-vegetarian. You probably know more about this.
Irish, since vegetarians are aware of the fine distinctions you pointed out, they came up with names to distinguish all of them. Lacto- and lacto-ovo-vegetarian, for example. The one who uses no food of animal origin is called “vegan” (I know, that sounds like science-fictionish for a race of aliens from Vega).
They didn’t care about making distinctions between varieties of meat-eaters, therefore the lack of terminology you pointed out. They hate it when non-vegetarians co-opt their name, though. They wish the chicken eaters would go and find their own name instead of taking someone else’s.
A vegetarian is someone who will not eat flesh, but will eat dairy products, and often eggs. (The rational is that the egg is often unfertilized, and hence was not “alive”. I’m sure you can find many vegetarians who disagree on this point as well.)
Vegans, however, will not eat animal products of any kind, including dairy and eggs.
The question in my mind is, can trees swim? Or is their activity of floating not really swimming?
) Can these be said to swim, or are they just wading and soaking?