Comment by pwdisswordfishy
3 hours ago
Nope. There's no broader debate. "Professional" means "X is getting paid for this", not "X is paying something in order for X to be able to do this". It's that simple.
> To put an example, suppose you hire a painter, and they show up with non-work attire, no ladder, no brush, they ask you to buy a can of paint for them and a brush. Compared to a contractor that bills you flat and brins their own ladder, has work clothing and shoes, an air pneumatic spray painter, a breathing mask. Who is more professional?
Literally meaningless. Are both getting paid? Yes? Then they are both professionals.
You can insist on using "professional" in a strained way to try to facilitate some attempt at being judgmental and gatekeepy, but "professional" means what it means. If you mean something else, then say what you mean and leave out the euphemisms.
You can't just conveniently ignore that "professionalism" is a concept that exists and is pretty clearly what the original author meant based on context and content. Refusing to interpret things in the most plausible manner just wastes everyone's time.
For example the phrase "unprofessional professional" means a professional (ie getting paid) who is behaving unprofessionally (ie exhibiting a lack of professionalism).