Come on, England !!!

No it doesn't. Any monkey can be a driver - it's the ones who do it well
and take a pride in their work that can be considered professional at
it, same as any field.

 

If you read the post my irritation was because matey flew around a bend
and didn't take his foot off the throttle preferring to try to menace me
into driving faster.

 

As in any field "professional" means "paid to do it".

There are additional meanings, but that is the most basic meaning of
the word, and it applies to *anybody* being paid to do something.

You cannot say that anybody being paid to drive is not a professional
driver.

You can say they are not driving in a "professional manner", but that
is a different thing.

 

In said:

So you felt entitled to intimidate him?

 

Yes. There are other definitions.

But the most basic definition of "professional", that applies to
*anybody* doing *anything*, is that if you are paid to do it then you
are doing it professionally.

 

In Alex Heney said:

What is a "professional manner"?

 

I was driving a small car. He was driving a lorry.

"Oh I'm so intimidated, the small car is going slowly..."

 

Granted, but I wouldn't sully the word "professional" by association
with some of the utter loons I've seen driving for a living.

 

In said:

Nevertheless, you braked and so caused him to do so in the full knowledge if
he had hit you that he would have been in more trouble than you. That's
intimidation.

 

The manner in which you *hope* a professional would act.

 

In Alex Heney said:

Which is?

 

ANYTHING beats watching TV. Its totall crap nowadays IMHO. Full of fucking
fruit loops trying to be "famous", DIY programmed all the same...blah blah.

McK

 

I was driving a small car. He was driving a lorry.

"Oh I'm so intimidated, the small car is going slowly..."[/QUOTE]

If you think you were not intimidating him, then for the sake of
everybody else, hand in your driving licence NOW.

The fact that his vehicle would suffer less damage than yours in a
crash does not mean he would want that crash to occur, not that he
would not be scared of it happening.

 

You tell me.

 

In Alex Heney said:

Thank you for confirming a suspicion.

The suspicion being that such phrases as "acting in a professional manner"
etc although widely used, even by reasonably erudite people, are
meaningless.

 

In Bear said:

However, if one consults a decent dictionary the word doesn't appear in
isolation.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=professional&x=46&y=11

 

Agreed. They mean whatever the person using them wants them to man.

Having said which, most people will have a reasonable idea what is
meant in any given situation. But there is certainly no general
definition of what the phrase means.

 

Try clicking on the first link under that (profession).
<http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=63190&dict=CALD>

You will find it there as both an adjective and a noun.

 

Typical fucking car driver. You do realise that had he braked hard
enough, he could possibly lose the load or jacknifed don't you?

You yourself have stated that it is a pretty blind corner. For some
strange reason, you assume the driver knew the road.

 

Perhaps because if he had, he may have had an accident.

Stupid fucking turd. You've obviously never driven anything other than
a car.

Ever wondered why some loads are lost or why lorries jacknife?