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VET

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:54 pm
by Dr. Goodword
• vet •

Pronunciation: vet • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: 1. To work as a veterinarian. 2. To submit for verification by those familiar with the object or subject in question, to have an expert check it.

Notes: We hear this Good Word more often as a noun, a clipping of the noun veterinarian, but it is being used more and more in the second sense above. This clipping now behaves like a normal English weak verb: vets, vetted, vetting. Note the usual doubling of the consonant before endings beginning with a vowel.

In Play: Today's Good Word usually refers to having plans and ideas checked by an authority no matter who or where: "Have you vetted your plans for the weekend beach party with your parents?" The point is that the input of others might have a beneficial effect: "You might have vetted your idea of putting frogs in all the office toilets with your coworkers before you carried it out."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a clipping of veterinarian, that is, everything after the initial syllable has been clipped off. It first appeared in print in 1891 with the original sense of taking an animal, especially a horse, to a vet to be examined. This expression became so common in the horse-and-buggy days that the meaning expanded to having people checked by a doctor and, from there, to having anything checked by an expert or experts. The noun veterinarian is the English adaptation of Latin veterinarius "veterinarian", a noun based on veterinus "pack animal". This word was originally vehiterinus, with the same root found in vehiculum from vehere "to haul, carry". This is the source of English vehicle. (We are happy that the mysterious 'JBR' vetted this word with us—we think it a very Good Word, indeed.)

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:52 pm
by JohnYY
This verb was a definite Briticism - I remember hearing it for the first time in the '50s in a British personnel security context, as in the phrase "positive vetting". I think its adoption into American speech is (relatively) quite recent.

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 2:13 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Welcome JohnYY. Keep posting! Of course vet is also short for veteran, but in this case there is little chance of confusion. Unless, of course, someone says, "He's a vet."

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:37 pm
by Philip Hudson
Welcome JohnYY. Post often. My British friends use vet to mean academically test. It is not wholly acepted in American speech except when referring to animal medicine and, as per Perry, an abbreviation for veteran.

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:43 am
by Slava
Welcome JohnYY. Post often. My British friends use vet to mean academically test. It is not wholly acepted in American speech except when referring to animal medicine and, as per Perry, an abbreviation for veteran.
I beg to differ on the acceptance of vet in Amer-English. Do we not vet our presidential candidates? And was John McCain not vilified for not properly vetting Sarah Palin?

Federal court judges and nearly all government appointees are also vetted, quite vigorously at times.

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:23 pm
by Philip Hudson
I believe you Slava. Vet has never come seriously to my attention except in the animal doctor sense. Perhaps I don't read with adequate attention or sensitivity. I will try to do better.

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:21 pm
by LukeJavan8
Welcome JohnnyYY

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:22 pm
by LukeJavan8
I beg to differ on the acceptance of vet in Amer-English. Do we not vet our presidential candidates? And was John McCain not vilified for not properly vetting Sarah Palin?


I do remember the term being used in these cases.

Re: VET

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:56 am
by LukeJavan8
I am totally lost.
Not being very computer savvy: I cannot find my way around: HELP.
what happened to the avatars? Or are they no longer being used????

AVATARS

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:47 pm
by Dr. Goodword
They are supposed to be there. We have upgraded the Agora software for the first time ever. If you see any glitches, sent reports to Andrew. A link to Andrew may be found by clicking the "Team" link written in very, very small letters at the bottom of the front page of the Agora.

I've alerted Andrew to this problem so there is no need for you to do it. But if you see anything else amiss, please do not wait for me.

Re: VET

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 12:36 pm
by LukeJavan8
Doctor.
What is the "front page" of the Alpha Agora. I've searched and don't know one
page from another.

There is a whole slew of problems listed in the thread "Changes to Alpha Agora": I
suggest you check there so we don't have to reprint them all:


http://www.alphadictionary.com/bb/viewt ... f=1&t=5754



I sent a PM to both you and Andrew yesterday and have received no reply,
that perhaps, is one of the problems you should be aware of.
There is still no avatar. I have not received notifications, nor the daily word of the day
today.

Re: VET

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:54 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Luke the front page is prob what you get when you click on Alpha Agora at the top of this or any other page. Among those online at the bottom I found "administrators" and sent a pm from there.

Re: VET

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:36 pm
by Slava
It's quite appropriate that this discussion is under this word, even though the definition given isn't the one we're using.

Let's face it, the "upgrade" to the Agora was not properly vetted before going live. Perhaps we should call it a downgrade that is killing the Agora?

Re: VET

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:44 pm
by Perry Lassiter
It's like live chessmen, moving with wills of their own....

Re: VET

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:23 pm
by LukeJavan8
slava, and Perry: two blank posts above this one (if it posts).