Is professionalism a word

Asked by: Ms. Lora Kunze DDS

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The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines professionalism as «the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person«; and it defines a profession as «a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation.»

Is there a word called professionalism?

Professionalism is based on the word professional, which is commonly used as an adjective to describe someone who works in this way—someone who shows professionalism. Professionalism is shown by people who take their work seriously and respect the people they work with.

What is professionalism simple words?

“The skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well” _{Merrium—Webster,n.d.} “’Professionalism’ is commonly understood as an individual’s adherence to a set of standards, code of conduct or collection of qualities that characterize accepted practice within a …

What is professionalism Webster dictionary?

1 : the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person. 2 : the following of a profession (such as athletics) for gain or livelihood.

What words describe professionalism?

professionalism

26 related questions found

H
Professionalisms, as the term itself signifies, are the words
used in a definite trade, profession or calling by people connect­ed
by common interests both at work and at home. They commonly designate
some working process or implement of labour. Professional­isms
are correlated to terms. Terms, as has already been indicated, are
coined to nominate new concepts that appear in the process of, and as
a result of, technical progress and the development of science.

Professional
words name anew already-existing concepts, tools or instruments, and
have the typical properties of a special code. The main feature of a
professionalism is its technicality. Professionalisms are spe­cial
words in the non-literary layer of the English vocabulary, whereas
terms are a specialized group belonging to the literary layer of
words. Terms, if they are connected with a field or branch of science
or tech­nique well-known to ordinary people, are easily decoded
and enter the neu­tral stratum of the vocabulary.
Professionalisms generally remain in circulation within a definite
community, as they are linked to a common occupation and common
social interests. The semantic structure of the term is usually
transparent and is therefore easily understood. The se­mantic
structure of a professionalism is often dimmed by the image on which
the meaning of the professionalism is based, particularly when the
features of the object in question reflect the process of the work,
metaphori­cally or metonymically. Like terms, professionalisms do
not allow any polysemy, they are monosemantic.

Here
are some professionalisms used in different trades: tin-fish
(^submarine); block-buster (= a bomb especially designed to destroy

blocks
of big buildings); piper (=a specialist who decorates pastry with the
use of a cream-pipe); a midder case (=a midwifery case); outer (=&
knockout blow).

Some
professionalisms, however, like certain terms, become popu­lar
and gradually lose their professional flavour. Thus the word crane
which Byron used in his «Don Juan» … was a verb meaning
4o stretch out the neck like a crane before a dangerous leap’ (in
hunting, in order to ‘look before you leap’). Now, according to Eric
Partridge, it has broad­ened its meaning and is used in the sense
of 4o hesitate at an obstacle, a danger’. By 1860 it was no more a
professionalism used in hunting but had become a colloquial word of
the non-literary stratum and finally, since 1890, entered the
standard English vocabulary.

«No
good craning at it. Let’s go down.» (Galsworthy)

Professionalisms
should not be mixed up with jargonisms. Like slang words,
professionalisms do not aim at secrecy. They fulfil a socially useful
function in communication, facilitating a quick and adequate grasp of
the message.

Good
examples of professionalisms as used by a man-of-letters can be found
in Dreiser’s «Financier.» The following passage is an
illustration.

Frank
soon picked up all the technicalities of the situation. A «bull»,
he learned, was one who bought in anticipation of a higher price to
come; and if he was «loaded» up with a «line» of
stocks he was said to be «long». He sold to «realize»
his profit, or if his margins were exhausted he was «wiped out».
A «bear» was one who sold stocks which most frequently he
did not have, in anticipation of a lower price at which he could buy
and sat­isfy his previous sales. He was «short» when he
had sold what he did not own, and he was «covered» when he
bought to satisfy his s^Jes and tcTrealize his profits or to protect
himself against further loss in the case prices advanced instead of
declining. He was in a «corner» when he found that he could
not buy in order to make good the stock he had borrowed for delivery
and the return of which had been demanded. He was then obliged to
settle practically at a price fixed by those to whom he and other
«shorts» had sold:

As
is seen, each financial professionalism is explained by the author
and the words themselves are in-Jnverted commas to stress their
pe­culiar idiomatic sense and also to,indicate that the words do
not belong to the standard English vocabulary in the meanings they
are used.

There
are certain fields of human activity which enjoy nation-wide interest
and popularity. This, for example, is the case in Great Britain where
sports and games are concerned. English pugilistic terminology, for
example, has gained particularly wide recognition and therefore is
frequently used in a transferred meaning, thus adding to the gener­al
image-building function of emotive prose. Here is an example of the
use of such professionalisms in fiction,

«Father
Knickerbocker met them at the ferry giving one a right-hander on the
nose and the other an uppercut with his left just to let them know
that the fight was on»

This
is from a story by O. Henry called «The Duel» in which the
writer depicts two characters who came from the West to conquer New
York. The vocabulary of boxing (right-hander, uppercut), as well as
other professional terms found in the story, like ring, to counter,
to clinch, etc., help to maintain the atmosphere of a fight, which
the story requires.

Professionalisms
are used in emotive prose to depict the natural speech of a
character. The skilful use of a professional word will show not only
the vocation of a character, but also his education, breeding,
environment and sometimes even his psychology. That is why, perhaps,
a literary device known as speech-characterization is so abundantly
used in emotive prose. The use of professionalisms forms the most
conspicuous element of this literary device.

An
interesting article was published in the Canadian Globe and Mail * in
which the author shows how a journalist who mocks at the
profession­alisms in the language of municipal planners, which
render their speech almost incomprehensible, himself uses words and
expressions unintelli­gible to the lay reader, Here is the
article,

JOURNALESE

I
was glad to read recently how incomprehensible the language of city
planners is to newspapermen. I decided to call the author of the
ar­ticle and express my appreciation:

«Hello,
I’d like to speak to a reporter of yours named Terrance Wills.»

«Is
he on city side or the night rewrite desk?»

«I’m
not sure. Maybe he’s at his type-writer.»

The
operator said something under his breath and then connected me to the
third assistant executive city editor. After about 15 minutes of this
I was finally able to communicate directly with Mr. Wills:

«That
was a great story you did on ‘plannerese’, sir,» I told him.
«Where did you get the idea for it?»

«Why,
I just went to the morgue one day when there weren’t many obits to do
and I got a few clippings. Then I talked with the copy-editor and he
gave me a 32-point italic headline with an overhanging deck»

«Is
that good?»

«Sure
it is. Even a cub knows that. Well I wrote a couple of takes and got
it in the box just before the deadline for the second night final
edition»

«Is
that hard to do?» I asked. My head was beginning to ache.

«What?
Sure, I guess. Listen, I’d like to discuss this with you fur­ther
but I’m on the rewrite desk and my legman is going to be calling in a
scoop any minute now. Good-bye.»

I
sat there with the phone in my hand, thankful that in this complex
age the journalists are still preserving simple English.