vet

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 185111

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" <catlady at ...> 
wrote:

> Geoff wrote in
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/185075>:
> 
> << Now that's a bit I missed in the books - that Harry spent some of
> his time dealing with the effect of the war on cats and dogs and other
> four-legged friends. :-)) >>

Catlady: 
> Don't Brits say 'vet' as short for 'veteran'? I confess, as a child, I
> confused the words 'veteran' and 'veterinarian' and thought that
> holiday in November was Veterinarian's Day -- the one that was renamed
> from Armistice Day, but you Brits renamed it differently than we
> Americans.

Geoff:
k12listmomma emailed me off-group about ny comment.

This is what I wrote in reply:
'No, that's the point. We only use "veterans" and, even here, we don't use the
word as much as you do in North America.

We don't even use the word "veterinarian". Here, in the UK, we go to the vets
or the veterinary surgery and we see the vet. The short forms are used probably
95% of the time.

So, for me as a UK English speaker, your use of the word vet raised a slight
chuckle because I don't recall seeing a US writer use "vet" before rather than
the full "veteran".'