Vegetable Tales

When did the word Vegetable get shortened and socially accepted to Veggie? Vegetable comes from the Latin vegetabilis – not veggietabilis, and vegetare – not veggietare. Typically, I find this pseudo-word in women's magazines, especially in exercise and diet related articles written by women, for women: "…and slip in a nice veggie snack to help lose that 22 extra pounds before next week!" This morning, on talk radio, I heard an interview with an "expert" – a guy – who used the word veggies in his list of top ten snacks to eat for good health. What? is one extra syllable too hard for the modern language? Does hacking the word vegetable make it more palatable, or more cute, to say "I ate my veggies today!" … like a pre-schooler?  Do you think the social snobbery refer to their crudite as veggies?

I won’t go there. I won’t compromise my Midwest English upbringing and grammar. I won’t lower my standards. They are Vegetables. Do Vegetarians want to be called Veggietarians?? I didn’t think so. By the way, I was a bit taken aback to learn that veggie is not only slang for vegetable, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself if you're feeling reckless.

                                           

                                                               

Comments

[Stephanie]

I think it's so that vegetables will appeal to kids. And because of Veggie Tales... :)

[carol ann]

Hmmmm....yeah, I think I'll just sit here and veg :-)

[Tulip Girl]

Will I really lose that extra 22 lbs by next week if I eat my veggies??? Count me in!!!

[Rob]

I'm with you. Nice veggie post!