Originally posted by: O2bnVegas
"Vegetable" is used here as a pejorative term. In decades past, or even to this day, it might be used by healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, and so on) to refer to a comatose patient (not necessarily a vegetative state). I once overheard a family member of mine being so referred to (by a healthcare worker who should have known better) and have hated the use of it it ever since.
As of my retirement I know that "permanent vegetative state" was an 'accepted' medical description, referring to a patient who was factually without brain functions as determined by extensive neurologic testing. (Not sure if it is or ever was listed in the DSM5.)
Absent the specific brain functions, a patient would almost immediately die if removed from mechanical life support. It was, and still is, a condition hard to accept by family members, and some insist their loved one be kept on the ventilator etc. for months or years in spite of the patient having no chance for meaningful return of alertness.
At any rate, whether one is for or against Biden, to refer to him as a "walking vegetable" or use the term vegetable to describe him reflects a lack of knowlege about brain function. Plus it is meaningless when used in dialogue about presidential elections, candidacy, etc. JMHO.
Well, David, being well on the way to a vegetative state himself, has for years been using a term that he can't even spell correctly to refer to Biden: "brain dead (sic)." I've helpfully pointed out to him why this is stupid and wrong:
1. The correct spelling of the term is "brain-dead," with a hyphen. I taught my third-graders how to use hyphens for many years. Perhaps David would benefit from such a class?
2. A person who is brain-dead is, for all intents and purposes and by many accepted medical definitions, just plain old dead. Certainly, a person who continues to perform the duties of any job, let alone that of the President, is far from brain-dead.
3. The way to describe Biden's functionality is "occasional forgetfulness," something commonly exhibited by people of his age (or much younger). Trump is currently displaying the same symptoms, so to complain about Biden's verbal mistakes while planning to vote for Trump is, shall we say...illogical.
Candu, you'rs absolutely correct that to inaccurately use a medical term pejoratively simply reflects ignorance.
