[thaumasiotes]

> It’s like saying you’re not a drinker because you have a glass of wine every once in a while.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animals-and-us/20110...

> Take a 2002 Times/CNN poll on the eating habits of 10,000 Americans. Six percent of the individuals surveyed said they considered themselves vegetarian. But when asked by the pollsters what they had eaten in the last 24 hours, 60% of the self-described "vegetarians" admitted that [they] had consumed red meat, poultry, or fish the previous day.

[Aurornis]

> Six percent of the individuals surveyed said they considered themselves vegetarian

In any casual poll like this, every number has a large margin of error. When 6% of respondents select an answer, some of those were mis-clicks, people who misread the answers, or people who were just clicking through randomly. The latter happens a lot when bad UX means the only way to see the results is to take the poll.

So the more likely explanation is not that people were calling themselves vegetarian but also eating meat recently, it’s that around half of those reporting vegetarians were either mis-clicks or people blindly clicking things. It happens a lot in online polls.

[thaumasiotes]

> So the more likely explanation is not that people were calling themselves vegetarian but also eating meat recently, it’s that around half of those reporting vegetarians were either mis-clicks or people blindly clicking things. It happens a lot in online polls.

No, you're just making things up. For one thing, these are telephone polls, not online polls.

[malfist]

You say that, the the psychology today deliberately does not link to the study. It links to several studies but not the one they're writing about. The most they identify it as is a 2002 Times/CNN survey.

If you have the actual study please share it. Right now, I doubt the veracity of psychology today's claims.

In fact I've done more digging since posting this and the only other people talking about this survey is citing psychology today as their source. I can find no primary sources.

[thaumasiotes]

That poll is not published. But if you doubt the veracity of Psychology Today, it's easy enough to verify that Time/CNN sponsored it and published on the results: https://time.com/archive/6666859/should-we-all-be-vegetarian...

You can find other Time articles that cover their methodology, which involves paying a polling (or consulting) firm to run the poll.

> It links to several studies but not the one they're writing about.

Which one do you think is "the one they're writing about"? The Psychology Today piece opens with a description of the current state of affairs.

You might or might not have noticed that immediately after the mention of the Time poll, Psychology Today links to a survey published by the USDA finding that, among self-described vegetarians, 64% reported eating meat within the last 24 hours. Why do you doubt the Time poll?

[malfist]

So its a real survey but we're not allowed to see it? Can't see methodology can't see the actual numbers, can't see their margin of error or the questions.

I'm sorry, but science doesn't happen in the dark. "Trust me" isn't the path to data

[burkaman]

I wonder what the breakdown between meat/poultry and fish was. I know it isn't the dictionary definition, but I think the common definition of "vegetarian" in the US includes people who only eat fish. I don't know anyone that uses "pescatarian" in conversation or identifies as that, even if it's accurate.

[shermantanktop]

I get it, I hear that too, but it’s wrong.

Vegetarian = no meat, no chicken, no fish, no crustaceans, no dead animals, no meat/fish broth, no lard. Nothing derived from a dead animal. Or as my little sister used to ask: “did this have a face?”

But that’s what “vegetarian” means to me. I guess that’s a “strict vegetarian”?

[thaumasiotes]

Time didn't break down their results between meat/poultry and fish, but they did break them down between "red meat" and poultry/fish; 37% of vegetarians had eaten red meat within the last day.

[xoxxala]

Like humanity in general, there is a lot of variety. My dad has been a pescetarian for 30+ years, so I'm aware of the term and use it at least two or three times a year. Personally, I'm a flexitarian and eat a reduced animal flesh diet. I know quite a few vegetarians, and they don't all eat the same diet (one does eat eggs on a weekly basis and still calls himself a vegetarian, which is somewhat controversial according to the other vegetarians that I talk to). Most vegetarians I know don't consume fish or dairy.

[SAI_Peregrinus]

That definition is mostly only used by Catholics in my experience. Most other Americans consider fish to be an animal, and therefore meat.