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I've heard the term, "Professional" used frequently in ways that seem, well, unprofessional of late. Having been a curmudgeon since age four, I still think that the only people who get to apply the term to themselves are physicians, lawyers, and clerics, i.e. members of the ancient "learned professions." How do you people now use it, both as a noun and as an adjective?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Geoff: my dictionary says: a vocation or occupation requiring advanced education and training, and involving intellectual skills, as medicine, law, theology, engineering, teaching, etc.
I have seen in print claims that practitioners of commercial sex were the earliest, that money changing was the earliest.
The dictionary definition above fails to list many that are now recognized, from soldier all the way to IT consultant. Anyone with special skill and knowledge is entitled to be called a professional - even gamblers.
Excluding only the amateurs and dilettantes, who do not earn their living from their knowledge.
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veteran
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Dr. Bill and Geoff have both stated correct meanings for the term. Not surprisingly, there is more than one meaning. There is the old, narrow meaning which Geoff alludes to, but there is the meaning of someone who does for money, or for a living, what others do for amusement or pro bono publico. There are professional gamblers and there are those who play penny-ante poker every 3rd Wednesday evening. And whereas it was originally an honorable term, it can now take on a distinctly nasty connotation, as in the expression "professional do-gooder".
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Geoff's example referred to the limited definition as including "physicians, lawyers, and clerics".
Question: I seem to recall that at university graduation ceremonies, doctoral robes are worn not only by the newly minted PhD's, but by others whose, such as M.D.'s and J.D.'s, whose degree required three or more post-graduate years. Could it be that limited meaning of "professional" is (or at one time was) tied to that three-year marker, referring to those who held a 3+ year post-grad degree in their field?
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Geoff, other shadings of both the adj. and n. are nothing new. referring to means of livelihood and to non-amateurs in sports, for instance, both trace to the 1800s. disparaging usage also shows up in this period. 1887 Pall Mall G. 11 Feb. 4/2 Ladies raised+to the now extinct position of ‘professional beauty’. [extinct??] 1879 Cornh. Mag. Oct. 414 It is one of the misfortunes of the professional Don Juan that his honour forbids him to refuse battle.
I was surprised to learn that the first attested sense of profession/professional pertains to entrance into a religious order. I can quote chapter and verse of all senses if you like....
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In many US corporations, "professional" is used to define behavour. proessional behaviour is unemotional.. there have been studies about women, who find there work life, so much more rewarding than home life, since at work, they are un emotional.
feeling-- joy, happiness, anger, sadness, grief,-- all take energy. Work doesn't require this. at work, if some one is unable to do a job, you let them go.. no anger, no sadness, just professional. How simple.
At home, what do you do with an aging parent, or a chronicly sick child? You can't cut them loose!
at times, the "professionalism" of the office is callousness.
i agree that i don't want people i buy services from to be rude, but, the other extreme is a "canned smile" and empty phrases.. which is, in some ways, just as unpleasant.
i some times think one of the reasons lawyers are so hated, is they are masters at this sort of professionalism-- they know all the facts, but remain detached. Being detached lets them do their job, but for the client, it sometimes comes across as cold, hard heartedness.. (and gee whiz, is that just the reputation lawyers have!)
there is a natural tendency for humans to share emotions as way to become close (it functions as our mutual grooming) when the process is one way-- it causes problems.
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Pooh-Bah
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As used on this rock, "professional" is a class distinction on the labor market. "Young professional" designates one whose compensation is determined on the basis of the expectation that one's skills and experience will someday be commensurate with it. The designation "professional" is a kind of royal jelly of the labor market.
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In reply to:
I was surprised to learn that the first attested sense of profession/professional pertains to entrance into a religious order.
Which reminds me of the confusion I felt when I first read Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" with his references to professors. It took a while to realise he meant people who professed an opinion they didn't really hold rather than a blanket condemnation of academics.
Bingley
Bingley
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The term "professional" seems to have suffered so badly from over-use (inflation, in advertising etc.) that its depth of meaning is approaching zero, just about like "philosophy".
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I agree with wsieber - the word has become so commonplace as to be meaningless. There's hardly an advertisement for any sort of service these days that doesn't claim things like, "..have your carpet professioanlly installed", "...your car professionally detailed" etc.
In my cynicism, all I hear when listening to these adverts is that the person providing the service will do a better job merely because they are being paid!!
For this reason the word has been banished from the stales vocabulary.
stales
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carpet professioanlly installed
In those circumstances stales, the fee is usually higher than if it was installed by a non-professional. Oft times the results are the same.
What does a car being professionally detailed mean?
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Hey this is odd. My post appeared twice with the same info in it and when I tried to delete one post an empty box showed up instead. Oh well.
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re "Detailed"
Must be a local term....means getting some guy to give your car the big once over. Wash, polish, vacuum, clean the engine & engine bay etc etc. Costs PP$150 - PP$200 (PP = Pacific Peso, ie the A$) so usually reserved for the day before you sell the car!
What's this process called elsewhere - may I suggest another thread as it has nothing to do with the professional theme.
stales
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I agree with wsieber - the word has become so commonplace as to be meaningless.Precisely why I asked you folks' opinion redarding its meaning! Being single, I am given to reading the "lonely hearts" adverts, wherein one is bombarded with women writing hackneyed phrases such as "Professional, attractive divorced female, loves dining, dancing, walks on the beach..." So, she's professionally attractive? (A hooker, perhaps) Or professionally divorced? (A gold digger, perchance?) Sounds like the type to avoid, to me!  Thanks to all for your insights! Geoff
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stales, I have never heard that before! Where did it come from, she said, rather dreading the answer?
And as to detailing--that is used here, too, for what you explained it as, but you need to have a context for it, because it can also mean one of those decorative paint jobs
on vehicles.
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members of the ancient "learned professions."
Them'd be *learnéd professionals, Geoff. And I disagree that the term has become meaningless. Call learnéd professional a retronym, if you will. To me, a professional is someone who gets paid to do something others often do for free or the love (amateur) of doing it. You rarely hear of professional garbage collectors (dustmen) because nobody would do that simply for the love of the job. Professional tennis players, yes, because many do it simply for the love of the sport.
My pululation and micturation on the word professional is in the opposite direction. That would be saying that minor league baseball players, e.g., are *not professional.
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That would be the US gom'nt folks!
The US Federal Wages and Hours people class reporters as "Exempt Professionals" meaning we got paid overtime for any work done after the 40 hour work-week.
How-some-ever,as an Editor - Professional - I got NO overtime pay for putting in nearly twice the hours and -fer' sure- twice the work, I was "salaried."
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okay, so major-and-minor league ballplayers are professionals, 'cuz they get paid. little leaguers and HS/college players are (supposedly) amateurs. and then there are semiprofessionals -- used to wonder what the heck *that meant (only being half-good and half-paid?). around here there are a lot of semipros playing 'town ball'. they get paid but it ain't their full-time occupation.
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geoff, the best person i met via a personal ad, was the guy who placed it the week he was un employeed--and said "un employed" by the time i met him, he had a job, but he said response to his ad was very low..
in personal ads, "professional" mean a person who has (or who thinks they have!) a "better" job.. as pointed out, there are no professional garbage collectors (dustmen) because no one would think to do it for a hobby. and a cashiering at a local food store? in the same catagory as garbage men.
i actually think is it sad. plumbers, electricians, telephone line managers, welders, -- any number of professions require intellect, even if they are physical work. but there exist a bias against them. women who call them selves professional are advertizing to say, i am not interested in anyone--i am only interested in meeting people with white collar jobs.. (or I am a snob and a bit of gold digger, i have a job, but i want to meet met men who earn even more money than i do, and i want them to spend a good portion on me!)
you should learn who's is the resident match maker here at AWAD, and get them working for you... met another word lover-- you'll start out with 2 things in common, love of words and AWAD...
its not me!, and i am not in the market for someone!
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>and i am not in the market for someone!
-m-y-h-o-p-e-s-
TEd
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It's simple enough, tsuwm. You make all (or most) of your income at whatever it is (assuming there are those who do it for the love of it) you're a professional, if you do it entirely for the love of it you're amateur. If you make a large portion of your income doing it but another large portion doing something else (say, selling cars) you're a semi-pro. Semi-pro baseball used to be a big thing in this country. Every little business had its baseball team, some rivalled professional teams. But then, some companies hired former greats for their baseball talent and gave them night watchman jobs that they could sleep through just to have them on their teams. It has nothing to do with quality of talent but it is easy enough for someone to caste aspersions (before or after swine) on someone who doesn't make a living wage at a sport, thus making amateur a derogatory term.
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some of the semipro town ballteams I mentioned bring in over-the-hill major leaguers to play. so what should we call these guys who prolly have more money than we could ever dream of and now presumably are playing just for the game. semiamateurs?
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<<so what should we call these guys who prolly have more money than we could ever dream of and now presumably are playing just for the game. semiamateurs>>
I'd rather think you can earn half enough to live but only love wholly. Call them semi-retired.
***
A woman advertising for a professional, as opposed to a professional film-maker or ball-player, for example, is probably looking for a college educated salaried worker with above average income.
One predominantly female vocation, nursing, was or is in the midst of demanding it be regarded as a profession, presumably for advantages compensation.
Presumably, also, the professions arose with the advent and growth of the middle classes.
Not to mention the professional ball player's father who was never a professional coal miner.
"Professional" is a nuanced term, but it almost always stakes out a position in the labor market and a region of class.
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One can be a professional without being a member of a profession. The woman advertising for a professional had better say a professional what. She'll have lawyers come applying for the job of archbishop she wants filled.
And you don't have professional coal miners because you don't have amateur coal miners to distinguish them from.
"Hi, you probably don't recognize me because you're used to seeing me in my professional baseball player's uniform, but during the winter months I enjoy a good day's work breathing coal dust here two miles underground. When I get out and I'm looking for a good bar of soap I can't be bothered with dirty cash. I use American Excess. Don't leave home without it."
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<<And you don't have professional coal miners because you don't have amateur coal miners to distinguish them from. [etc.]>> While I agree with your definition of 'professional' (and find your retort funny) I do not agree that that definition is exclusive. Below is a partial bibliography, available at http://palinurus.english.ucsb.edu/BIBLIO-BUSINESS-new-class.html#general, which suggests there may be a broader scope of definition: * Burton J. Bledstein, The Culture of Professionalism: The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America (New York: Norton, 1976) * Barbara and John Ehrenreich, "The Professional-Managerial Class," Radical America, Part 1, 11 (March-April 1977): 7-31; Part 2, 11 (May-June 1977): 7-22 * Amital Etzioni, ed., The Semi-Professions and Their Organization: Teachers, Nurses, Social Workers (New York: Free Press, 1969) * Magali S. Larson, The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis (Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press, 1977) * M. Oppenheimer, "The Proletarianization of the Professional," Sociological Review Monography no. 20 (1973): 213-27 * W.J. Reader, Professional Men: The Rise of the Professional Classes in Nineteenth-Century England (New York: Basic, 1966)
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Re: One predominantly female vocation
[feminist rant]
Ha! Yes, lets call nursing, child care and teaching vocations things people do for love, and so we don't have to pay them decent wages... unlike careers, or professions, things people chose to do, for both love and money!
in the not too distant past, woman were, to a large degree, limited to these professions, unless they had independent money, or strong family support. But men were free to have careers and professions.
[/feminist rant]
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I do not agree that that definition is exclusive.
Context, my dear Rock Island.
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Pooh-Bah
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<<Context, my dear Rock Island>>
What you mean to say is that you concede the point.
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To me, a professional is someone who gets paid to do something others often do for free or the love (amateur) of doing it
What you mean to say is that you concede the point.
<<Context, my dear Rock Island>>
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