Does anyone find it annoying that some vegetarians call themselves so, even though they eat the flesh of fish?

Question

I'm not vegetarian and love fish too. Am just fascinated about an issue that puzzles me and wonder what you out there think about it.

Answer 1

veg·e·tar·i·an /–noun 1. a person who does not eat or does not believe in eating meat, fish, fowl, or, in some cases, any food derived from animals, as eggs or cheese, but subsists on vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain, etc.
yes, i do find it irritating. if you eat fish, you are NOT a vegetarian. it also annoys me when people give up only some meats (unless its for religious reasons, that's fine with me) and act like/claim they are actually vegetarians.

Answer 2

My feelings are a little mixed.
I think society itself has contributed
to this confusion.
I remember a picture of Ben Franklin
with a barrel of fish in grade school.
We were taught by our teacher that
this" fish only" concept made Ben
a vegetarian.

I myself never referred to myself as
veg 5 years ago when I was still
consuming seafood. However,
friends, family and coworkers
kept making that mistake.
I think that a fish-only person can
hear theirself referred to as a
veggie so much that they can begin
to believe it and embrace the title.

I'm not sure how much this annoys
me because I believe even the USDA
is to blame for part of this confusion.
Why are meat and fish considered
two different things? Ironically cows
are vegetarian and the big fish species
on market are carnivore that fed on smaller
fish. Yet, I read a statement that someone
posted suggesting that fish are not meat
because they are made up of plants????

I have to be more annoyed then I will admit
to myself though. Like Lyllian I have been
offered fish as an ( "option" to meat????)
after telling a waiter or hostess that I'm
vegetarian.

Also I've noticed that I have a hightened
sensitivity to certain rhettoric now that I've
been vegan a couple of years.

Phrases like: beating a borrowed mule,
throwing my line back in the water,
don't count your chickens before they
hatch, why buy a cow when you can get
the milk for free, whole hog or nothing
at all, more than one way to skin a cat,
really burn my ears now.

So then the pesco-vegetarian title
probably annoys me more than I realize.
Now that I really think about it ,it has to.
I had a nightmare about a fish jumping
up and down trying to escape out of a
bucket a few months ago.

Answer 3

I don't find it annoying, but they shouldn't call themselves so because a vegetarian means you do not eat any animal flesh. The only problem I can think of now is it may confuse other people, especially those in restaurants, who does not know the different types of vegetarians.

Answer 4

Just look at my answer to the question "Veggie Q only if you kno, answer.?" and that should help ;-)


I'm almost to the point of finding something new to hate!

People that call themselves vegetarian and eat fish are LIARS!

Answer 5

Yes..it is annoying but I don't think they are doing it on purpose. I think they are just not informed. There are many articles that are floating around online that give false information on what a vegetarian is. There is one article on About.com that is all wrong and it is viewed often.

For example, the post above me uses the term "semi vegetarian" when there is no such thing. Either you are vegetarian or not..there is no semi.

Answer 6

No, I don't find it annoying. Not anymore. What do I care what people call themselves if it makes them happy? Important is what they do, how they live and if they are happy with their choice. Of course everyone (including them) knows they are a far cry away from being vegetarians. My question: if you are not a vegetarian, why do you mind?

Answer 7

I think its ok so long as they are only calling themselves "vegetarian" because they don't like meat and they are trying to avoid being given meat to eat. However it really annoys me when people tell me they are vegetarian because they don't think its right to eat animals, and then they eat fish! - Fish have feelings too!

Answer 8

It annoys me to no end!
Vegetarians do not eat dead animals.
There is NO such thing is this pesco-vegetarian nonsense because there is no type of vegetarian who does eat fish.
No pick-and-choose- which-animals -can die-for-me-to-eat, no dead-fish-isn't-*meat*

The amount of misinformation going around is highly disturbing. Some nitwit actually got best-answer from someone by saying that vegetarians can sometimes eat beef! This is the ridiculousness that occurs when you have people decide (either from laziness or ignorance) that vegetarians can eat animals.

Some people are big in to this pescatarian nonsense (in the past few years.) That is fine if you need a label, but pesca's are NO type of vegetarian.
_______________________

WHY IT MATTERS:
The whole point of having a label is that people can turn many words into one word.
I should be able to go anywhere in the world, say "vegetarian" in respective languages, and it should be understood that I want no dead animals in my food. Now, thanks to them, I could have a dead-carcass put on my plate.

The fish-eaters are ruining and tainting the very word. The label is not so important when you eat dead animals because most any restaurant has food that quite obviously is edible for fish-eaters. There is no need for a label. Just order fish!!!!! If you must have a label, don't bastardize *actual words,* have your own stupid word.
________________________

Pescawhatevers are not accepted by any vegetarian society, but only nitwit websites that spread false information.

Vegetarians do not, under any circumstances, eat dead animals.
There is one of these fish eaters who regularly goes around on here calling herself a vegetarian. I know I shouldn't care but it drives me insane. I have worked very hard to lead this life because it is something I believe in. Now thanks to these lazy hypocrites *I* get to explain over and over again at business lunches that fish aren't vegetables.... you would think the eyes would give these people a clue.

*Whew*... Thanks for asking. You probably didn't need all that, but I really needed to vent. I think the beef thing may have done it.
:)

Answer 9

I am a vegetarian, I neither eat fish, or meat. I don't get upset with vegetarians who eat fish, because there is no well known name for people who eat fish and not meat to call themselves.
There is a name for vegetarians who eat fish, though I can't think of it now, but it is something-vegetarian. At least most fish have a normal life until they are caught.
I am not even against so called vegetarians who eat chicken, though they are not vegetarians in any form.
I am not annoyed by people eating meat.
Everyone is different, and I accept people for what they are.

What did annoy me was a Vegan who claimed I wasn't a vegetarian because I ate dairy, free range eggs, and honey. I never invented the word Vegetarian, but it never meant Vegan, and there was a word for Vegans. He had the view he was better than me, I disagree we are different, and I didn't try to put him down.

This will explain it better:-
http://www.passionatevegetarian.com/vegetarian_types.htm

Answer 10

If you look it up in the dictionary fish is not considered meat, and actually neither is chicken. The term for people who do not eat meat, or poultry, but who still eat fish is called a pescatarian. I am one myself so I don't find it annoying.

What I do find annoying is all of the vegan/vegetarian people on here (and elsewhere) who are so opposed to pescetarians. I don't see why they get their panties in such a twist about it, when it has nothing to do with them. Yes I understand that you don't believe in it, but you don't have to. It isn't you who has to live/deal with it. At least people like this are putting in some effort.

For example, this is all new to me, but I recently decided to stop eating meat/meat products. Although I never really ate red meat in the first place, I still ate poultry and pork and fish. After informing myself about how animal products are made, I've decided not to eat any meat anymore because of the humane reasons. On the other hand, a friend said to me if I'm doing it to be humane, than I should support farmers who breed their animals and kill them humanely (which is an oxymoron I suppose). But what she means is farmers who have pastured chickens, and do not used steroids, and do not kill them in a way that the suffer (I won't go into details, but if you go the PETA website you can find out all about it). I thought about this, but decided against it anyways. On the other hand, I also still had meat products when I made this decision, and I'm not by any means rich, so I am not just going to throw those products away. I have them in my freezer in case I ever decide to have people over who will eat them. It would be even more wasteful to throw it away after it's already been made and processed.

In the end, I still have decided to still eat fish. I realize that there are other ways to get protein and Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and all the other good stuff in fish, but it is just a decision I have made. It doesn't affect anyone else so i don't understand why people are get so angry about it. I could be gorging myself on a fat steak instead, but at least I've made the decision to cut out meat and poultry. You should be supporting that instead of insulting me (and other pescetarians) for being what I am. Also, I am still smart about it. I don't eat fish that have been over-fished, or fish that are in danger of extinction (i.e. Rainbow Trout), or fish with high-mercury levels. Lastly, when I go out or if I am eating with people who don't know me very well it is just easier to say I'm a vegetarian. Like I had a work lunch the other day and I wasn't sure if they'd have any non-meat foods so I brought my own. I didn't want to get into it with my boss about why I did so I just told them I was a vegetarian and didn't know if I'd have any options to eat, and that was perfectly fine with them. If I had told her I was a pescetarian she most likely wouldn't have any idea what that was...

Anyways, if anyone has any suggestions to this new lifestyle, and can be nice about it, I would really appreciate it because like I said I'm new to this. I just wish that people would mind their own business and just worry about themselves instead of focusing on cutting other people down for whatever reason they feel it's necessary.