As a new vegetarian, trying to transition to a vegan, I am curious about why people use veg*n instead of vegan? I have seen this in several places but can't figure out what it is about? Can someone help me?


Never mind I have now found old threads that answer this,, sorry for not finding them sooner

veg*n = vegan or vegetarian

Which is a little odd because the word vegetarian also encompasses vegans, but they've become used seperately around here.

Which is a little odd because the word vegetarian also encompasses vegans, but they've become used seperately around here.I think 'vegetarian' generally (i.e. not just on VB) refers to lacto-ovos, so using it instead of veg*n would create confusion in many contexts. (But I base this on what I've read, being a non-English speaker and all.)

It means "vegan and /or vegetarian and all flavours inbetween"

I was just wondering that the other day... I always thought that people wrote veg*n instead or vegan because they considered it a sacred word or something.

Hahaha

Veg*an. We who must not be named. :p

i woundered that for ages, agree, i thought it was like you were scared, or considered it rude......

No, not scared to say VEGAN. Veg*n includes the vegetarians. You'll notice if someone is only talking about vegans they will type out the whole word, but if they want to include all VBers in their discussion they'll put the asterisk as an easy shortcut.

http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showpost.php?p=13337&postcount=7

:D This has been mentioned many times before.

it is a lot easy to type, generally that is why I use it.

LOL at the word "vegan" being sacred. I was thinking the EXACT same thing!:D

ooooooooooh, i get it :)

i was wondering that for ages myself too!

yeah.
I don't like it.
Instead, I use "vegetarian".

ebola

it is a lot easy to type, generally that is why I use it.

Yup, me too. I'm just lazy.
Also I find it a good way to VBers in general.

Typing "veg*an", where you reach for the asterisk, is easier than typing "vegetarian"?

ebola

Veg*n is both easier to type (right shift + the key right above it in my keyboard produces an asterisk) and doesn't have a double meaning.

For those who are interested, there are types of expressions used in many programming languages and a lot of operating system command prompts (shells), called glob and regular expressions.

veg*n is a glob expression matching "vegan" or "vegetarian". The asterisk means "zero or more of any character." "vegfroggyan" would match this glob expression too, but we don't seem to talk about those a lot.

The regular expression for this would be "veg.*an" Where the dot specifies any character and the "*" means 0 or more of the preceding character or expression. You could just as well write "veg(etari)*an" which would match "vegan", "vegetarian", "vegetariaeterian", ..., etc. Regular expressions are good ways of looking in files for lines that have years beginning in "19", words that start with "micro", or words ending in "ism".

Froggy, have I told you lately that I love the way your mind works? :love:

Awwww, a bit off topic, but awww - u guys r so cute!!!!!!

yeah.
I don't like it.
Instead, I use "vegetarian".

ebola

i always mis-spell vegetarian, and put. i mix up the e's & a's sometimes and usually have to go back an retype it.