[pwdisswordfishy]

Nope. There's no broader debate. "Professional" means "X is getting paid for this", not "X is paying something in order for X to be able to do this". It's that simple.

> To put an example, suppose you hire a painter, and they show up with non-work attire, no ladder, no brush, they ask you to buy a can of paint for them and a brush. Compared to a contractor that bills you flat and brins their own ladder, has work clothing and shoes, an air pneumatic spray painter, a breathing mask. Who is more professional?

Literally meaningless. Are both getting paid? Yes? Then they are both professionals.

You can insist on using "professional" in a strained way to try to facilitate some attempt at being judgmental and gatekeepy, but "professional" means what it means. If you mean something else, then say what you mean and leave out the euphemisms.

[fc417fc802]

You can't just conveniently ignore that "professionalism" is a concept that exists and is pretty clearly what the original author meant based on context and content. Refusing to interpret things in the most plausible manner just wastes everyone's time.

For example the phrase "unprofessional professional" means a professional (ie getting paid) who is behaving unprofessionally (ie exhibiting a lack of professionalism).

[pwdisswordfishy]

There's no ignoring it. It was raised pre-emptively in the very first comment: "the way that "professional" is used as a euphemism in Americans' bizarre discursive repertoire".

> the phrase "unprofessional professional" means

That's just an oxymoron.

> a professional (ie getting paid) who is behaving unprofessionally (ie exhibiting a lack of professionalism)

A professional who is getting paid, the (only) necessary and sufficient condition for being "professional", is by definition exhibiting professionalism. That's a fact, and it's not any more complicated than that.

[fc417fc802]

Why not bother to check a dictionary before responding? Your "raised pre-emptively" was nothing more than you being preemptively wrong. It can be used as either a noun or an adjective and has multiple well established definitions for each. You are fixated on one of them.

I'm not hiring that plumber again as he was rather unprofessional.

Your attire doesn't look professional.

> ... is by definition exhibiting professionalism.

Nope, wrong again.

I found the lack of professionalism during my recent visit alarming.

[TZubiri]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/professional

adj sense 1c

>characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession

>"did a competent, professional job"

>exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace professional behavior/attire

>"I thought the whole meeting was going to fall apart but you rescued it like a true professional!"

As you can see there's more than 1 sense for the word, I didn't just make it up, it's a well established use of the word.

The definition you refer to is the 2nd sense:

>a: participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs

> "a professional golfer/poker player"

>"Few think of Idaho as fertile ground for developing professional baseball players."

>b: having a particular profession as a permanent career

>"a professional soldier"

>c: engaged in by persons receiving financial return

> "plays professional football/sports/poker"