When did people start using the word “veggies” and why wont they stop?

Posted by blacksmithMael@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 20 comments

It sounds ghastly and infantile so I assume it is an American import. What’s wrong with “veg” if “vegetables” is just such a hardship to type or utter? It’s shorter and doesn’t sound like something my three year old might shriek in a strop. Where did this come from? Why won’t it stop? Is it just me driven to paroxysms of rage by it?

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20 Comments

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Watashi_Ted@reddit

You’re on Reddit and the word “veggies” triggers you into rage?!? Wait til you see how the kids talk in the other subs…

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

I’d rather not.

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robertodurian@reddit

I first recall hearing it from an Aussie (is that ok?) in the early '80s.

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

Are you asking if it is ok to listen to Aussies? If you have to ask….

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NotDavid-Jatt@reddit

Someone didn't finish their veggies I see.

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

Yeah, I stuck to my veg.

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destria@reddit

What about veggie as short for vegetarian? Much quicker to say!

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

That I have no problem with whatsoever, makes absolute sense

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buymybone@reddit

I've only seen it on Reddit and a small handful of dipshits on social media who are the type who latch onto that kind of shit. Never in real life thankfully.

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

Maybe the algorithm has decided that I need to see this every time I go on the internet. Easy solution to that I suppose.

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buymybone@reddit

Do you look up recipes online? There's an excruciatingly twee style of writing that seems to be favoured by earnest Brits and Americans when it comes to food.

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

… that might be it. I’ll stick to the cookbooks.

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Alarmed_Crazy_6620@reddit

Veggies are real

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

Hyperbole is overrated.

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NandosCEO@reddit

Seems like it started to be used in books beginning in the 1980s and has continued to grow until peak usage in 2017. Graph here [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=veggies&year\_start=1800&year\_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=veggies&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3) I was curious to know how it started. During the 1980s these kind of healthy lifestyle, fad diet kinda things really took off. I found the word "veggies" being used a lot in a popular 80s magazine called Vegetarian Times so it might have stemmed from something like that.

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blacksmithMael@reddit (OP)

That makes me feel very ignorant, I thought it was only coined in the last few years, although that could be explained by the peak you describe.

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imminentmailing463@reddit

I'm in my early 30s and I'm fairly sure I've heard this all my life. Can't imagine getting driven to 'paroxysms of rage' by it. Life's too short.

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Alarmed_Crazy_6620@reddit

Veggies are good for you There's no way of stopping them https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=veggies&year\_start=1800&year\_end=2019&corpus=en-GB-2019&smoothing=3

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