# Arboriculturist or Arboriculturalist?



## SteveBullman (Nov 14, 2005)

ok i always thought it was arboriculturalist but apparently this word isnt in the dictionary, at least not mine, and its quite a substantial one. ive also checked online dictionaries and its in none of them. So is it actually a word or what!?!


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## Tom Dunlap (Nov 14, 2005)

"Arbolist...look up the word. I don't know; maybe I made it up. Anyway, it's an arbo-tree-ist, somebody who know about trees."]

George W. "Bush" aka Shrub-As quoted in USA Today, 8-21-01


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## ROLLACOSTA (Nov 14, 2005)

Well my Concise Oxford English Dictionary ''thumb index edition'' ..says 'ARBORICULTURIST'


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## treeseer (Nov 14, 2005)

count on the brits to add superfluous syllables. Waht does "Arboriculturist" say that "Arborist" does not? As for the "al", that syllable has no place at all. Still some horticulturists call themselves horticulturalists. Maybe they think that sounds more knowledgeable.


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## SteveBullman (Nov 14, 2005)

treeseer said:


> count on the brits to add superfluous syllables. Waht does "Arboriculturist" say that "Arborist" does not?:



ok smart arse....what does horticulturist say that hortorist doesnt.

count on the yanks for coming out with stupid sentences


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## jamie (Nov 14, 2005)

he he he he he he

my only response, yes a stoopid sentence

jamie


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## rfwoodvt (Nov 14, 2005)

Now Now Gentlemen, Lets not get our panties in a bunch!  

Arborist meaning one who studies and considers a tree as an individual.

Arboriculturist meaning one who studies and considers trees in, or as, a group.

Arboriculturalist meaning one who studies or promotes arboriculture in its own right.

Now, a Hortist...didn't he hear a who?


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## treeseer (Nov 14, 2005)

o come on steven I ain't dissin ya.

rick where'd ya get all that from? I'm all 3, as are the rest of us I guess, so those definitions get kinda confusin. We could be like W and just say arbolist tho.


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## Trignog (Nov 14, 2005)

I prefer arbor-tree-ist.


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## rfwoodvt (Nov 14, 2005)

Treeseer,

It was simple deduction my dear watson!

words ending in "IST" typically mean one who does or studies.

I simply took the work Arbor to mean tree and voila!

Then Arboriculture and TaDa! definition number 2

And finally Arboricultural, meaning "of arboriculture," and BAM! definition number 3.

I really think that depending on where you are in your life journing with trees, at any given time you could be one, two or all three.

On any given day I'm an Arboriculturalist as I am looking at the whole scene in our region to anticipate and appreciate the forest as a whole.

When I examine a client's property I slip in to Arboriculturist mode for that is where I am.

And when I'm getting intimate with a single tree (purely monogamous, mind you ) in an aerial mode then I'm an arborist.

So, when we don all caps at one time or another, what does that make us?

I settle for simply arborist as my clients have a hard enough time understanding that that word even exists.


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## rfwoodvt (Nov 14, 2005)

So, was it Hortist that heard the who?

I suess-spect it was!


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## Trignog (Nov 14, 2005)

My ex-girlfriend refered to arboriculture as arbortry. 
When I tell people what I do they think I am a lumber jack, and they introduce me as a lumberjack, no offense to loggers,you don't use axes much anyway, but it is kind of embarassing trying to explain that I don't "chop" down trees with an ax, and that being an arborist is as different as the guy who mows your lawn comared to logging.

Anyway now I got that off my chest, _*r-bor-culture * _ or _*r-bor-i-culture*_, I notice the more nerdy educated ones use the latter pronunciation as do I most the time, as I aspire to be nerdy and more educated about _*r-bor-i-culture*._


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## Tom Dunlap (Nov 14, 2005)

From Shigo:

We dont' say Par lee a ment why do we say arbor i culture? 

I don't pronounce the "i" and have stopped spelling with it too.


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## Ekka (Nov 14, 2005)

According to the infamous Gypo we are all Abhorists anyway.


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## SteveBullman (Nov 15, 2005)

so does anyone actually have arboriculturalist in their dictionary then?


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## iain (Nov 15, 2005)

call yourself what you like
were all, that fella who takes trees down with a chainsaw, to most of the public


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## treeseer (Nov 15, 2005)

stephenbullman said:


> so does anyone actually have arboriculturalist in their dictionary then?


no sb, the "al" should in any case be dropped, or there are duelling suffixes, no sense at all, think about it.

o and pronouncing it ar-BOR-i-culture makes the job sound like a BORE, which it is not.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Nov 15, 2005)

Sp I should spell it R-brist?


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## Tom Dunlap (Nov 15, 2005)

That's Dunl-AAAA-p to my friends  American version not Scottish


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## CJ-7 (Nov 15, 2005)

You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think. 

I still can't get that stupid phrase out of my head 35 years after sitting at a bus stop across from the Horticulture Building at Michigan State University watching the young ladies exit the building. You have to remember those were the days of micro skirts and boots.


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## timberwolf150 (Nov 15, 2005)

Stephen we advertise as Arboricultural Machinery Specialists. Every time we send an ad with the word arboricultural it comes back to us to check as word is not listed anywhere. Are we in an industry that is that new? As far as I know trees have always grown, and yes always been cut down. Funny that, the industry is top of the list as far as safety, prosecution and OTT regulations are concerned ( our beloved HSE )' but bottom of the list as being recognised as a very professional and demanding (mentally and physically) job that many an experienced aboriculturalist has spent years studying.


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## jamie (Nov 15, 2005)

*woodcutter*

i'm a woodcutter or tree surgeon at work, an arborist when talking to new folk, sounds fancier, not that i'm vain.

jamie


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## M.D. Vaden (Nov 16, 2005)

For a "cultural" part to be included in a word, it would involve an entire group of people - a culture; a clan.

Aboriculturist is the "individual" related word.


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## Sheshovel (Nov 16, 2005)

Arboriculture-The scientific cultivation of trees.
Arborculturist-One who cultivates trees
Arborist-One who makes trees his study or who is versed in the knowledge of trees
Arborator-One who plants or prunes trees
From Websters New Twentieth Century Dictionary..Second Edition 1966..Original copyright 1904


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## rfwoodvt (Nov 17, 2005)

thank you Sheshovel...glad you found those in the dictionary.

Looks like my english teacher succeeded in getting enough into my head so that I could at least come close to figuring the defintion of a word!


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## Big A (Nov 17, 2005)

Hey, Steve. Could have saved you this. Bought a book at the Capel Manor college when you were with me called "The Arboriculturalist's Companion" by N.D.G.James, so back to the drawing board, Hmmm!


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## Big A (Nov 17, 2005)

AND my spellchecker rejects Arboriculturalist!!


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## Big A (Nov 17, 2005)

Even on the US setting!


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## Rob Murphy (Nov 17, 2005)

*Some suggestions*

Arbororater.....one whotalks about trees
Nullarborist.....one who only removes trees.


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## SteveBullman (Nov 18, 2005)

yep big A, i think arboriculturalist is in fact void.


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## Caledonian (Nov 19, 2005)

Tom Dunlap said:


> That's Dunl-AAAA-p to my friends  American version not Scottish



In Scottish, thats what a dog does when its finished having a drink  

 Dun Lap 'ing'  

Sorry, sort of just came to me...

...what does that say about me?

P.S. it might help, if you mimic a Jock, when you say it.


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## Caledonian (Nov 19, 2005)

stephenbullman said:


> ok i always thought it was arboriculturalist but apparently this word isnt in the dictionary, at least not mine, and its quite a substantial one. ive also checked online dictionaries and its in none of them. So is it actually a word or what!?!




I suggest you keep on using whichever version of the word you prefer.

It appears to me, the way new words are selected for inclusion in the dictionaries is people power, lots of us folk using them.

When you think about some of the recent words included  
Yours, either version are informative/descriptive.

Keep on using, get your own entry...

'Arboculturist (sp) - StephenBullman'

That says it all :angel:


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## treeseer (Nov 19, 2005)

Caledonian said:


> In Scottish, thats what a dog does when its finished having a drink
> 
> Dun Lap 'ing'


In US southernspeak, it's a disease that happens to older guys. Their belly done lapped over their belt.

Now used to describe trunk tissues growing over a girdling root.


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## Big A (Nov 21, 2005)

Caledonian said:


> 'Arboculturist (sp) - StephenBullman'
> 
> QUOTE
> 
> ...


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## PTS (Nov 27, 2005)

iain said:


> call yourself what you like
> were all, that fella who takes trees down with a chainsaw, to most of the public




Been called "the tree man" more than once


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## Brownie (Dec 4, 2005)

Hi I have just been reading all the all the replies and I thought I would take a look in my dictionary, it says that arboriculture is broken down into L- Arbor, tree +cultura, culture. The scientific cultivation of trees and shrubs and that the noune for this is, wait for it! Arboriculturist. So not wanting to rock anybodys boat the collins pocket dictionary does say arboriculturist.


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## Tom Dunlap (Dec 14, 2005)

It's in print:

http://education.guardian.co.uk/further/voices/story/0,11109,1665451,00.html


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## Gopher (Dec 14, 2005)

*Say whAAAAt Tom?*

Am I in the "friend" group? What one does when the snow is pelting down for a few laughs.

JPS, how come you ain't out in the snow axen' down a big popple like any big lumberjack should be doin'?!

Now I just got a call from da school - rats, the boys are coming home at noon - no more slackin!

Time to play in the snow and go sleddin' and boardin - or however any of u want to spell it!


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