Profession

The Trinidad Express Editor seems confused about what a profession is:

...In the English languageby definition a profession is any activity that is a paid occupation in which there is some form of formal training and some form of certification...

The control characters ('Â') come courtesy of a straightforward copy and paste, and I have made not bothered to fix 'languageby' - both of which demonstrate a poor process for putting things on the Internet. But before you become too distracted - a 'profession' is not as defined by the editorial maven of the Trinidad Express.

First, let's look at the root of the word 'profession'. From the etymology of the word 'profession':

...profession

c.1225, "vows taken upon entering a religious order," from O.Fr. profession, from L. professionem (nom. professio) "public declaration," from professus (see profess). Meaning "occupation one professes to be skilled in" is from 1541; meaning "body of persons engaged in some occupation" is from 1610; as a euphemism for "prostitution" (e.g. oldest profession) it is recorded from 1888. Professional (adj.) is first recorded 1747 with sense of "pertaining to a profession;" 1884 as opposite of amateur. As a noun, it is attested from 1811. Professionalism is from 1856.

...

And now, from Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, (© 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.):

Profession
Pro*fes"sion\, n. [F., fr. L. professio. See Profess, v.]

1. The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith.

A solemn vow, promise, and profession. --Bk. of Com. Prayer.

2. That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, his professions are insincere.

The Indians quickly perceive the coincidence or the contradiction between professions and conduct. --J. Morse.

3. That of which one professed knowledge; the occupation, if not mechanical, agricultural, or the like, to which one devotes one's self; the business which one professes to understand, and to follow for subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as, the profession of arms; the profession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the profession of lecturer on chemistry.

Hi tried five or six professions in turn. --Macaulay.

Note: The three professions, or learned professions, are, especially, theology, law, and medicine.

4. The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the profession distrust him.

5. (Eccl. Law.) The act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious order.

Clearly, the editor is bending the word to his own meaning. Maybe he should worry more about the control characters and syntax on the web instead of trying to redefine words that are already well documented.

Or he could invent new words. That's allowed. Of course, he should probably be writing like a pirate until the Trinidad Express stops stealing images. Or perhaps this is just the Trinidad Express's way of trying to steal words and meanings.

Is being a pirate a profession? :-)