Sounds like a L6 question that Tom!

"...An arborist, by definition, is an individual trained in the art and science of planting, caring for, and maintaining individual trees. Arborists are knowledgeable about the needs of trees and are trained and equipped to provide proper care..." 

http://www.isa-arbor.com/publicoutreach/whyhirecertifiedarborist/index.aspx

"...An arborist, or (less commonly) arboriculturist, is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. Arborists generally focus on the health and safety of individual plants and trees, rather than managing forests (the domains of forestry and silviculture) or harvesting wood. An arborist's scope of work is therefore distinct from that of either a forester or a logger, though the professions share much in common..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arborist

And The Arboriculturist's Companion - A guide to the Care of Trees NDG James ISBN 978-0-6311-6774-7 also looks at the question.

The term Arborist, and certainly Arboriculturalist, tends to result in having to dumb it down to Tree Surgeon in most conversations anyway so what's the point calling yourself something that people don't recognise or understand... 

Good article, I advertise myself as an Arborist, but purely because I aim to subcontract and not secure my own jobs.

HI Tom, respectfully, I think its the work activity  that pertains to the  role that determines "what" we are, or rather how we refer to ourselves. Your staff with degrees, in arb or related presumed, could indeed be arborists or arboriculturists dependent on whether they are cutting trees or inspecting them and writing associated reports etc.

A previous thread suggested that a (qualified) tree surgeon is someone who know 'where' to cut, the arborist being the tree surgeon who understands 'why' (perhaps supported, for instance, by the ISA Cert Arb or RFS or l2 'academic' qual.)  

When we previously revised the 'Choosing Your Arborist' leaflet, I pressed to change the title to 'Choosing Your Tree Surgeon (Arborist)' because it's aimed at the general public as tree owners and, predominantly, that is how most still refer to / know us.

Just my tenpenneth, FWIW.

Cheers, n hope you're well,

Paul 

Hi Tom, great post. I think it is really interesting that you think of the internet age and what people are searching for. My job as a recruiter means I have to be mindful of this when advertising. My clients often want a fully qualified Arborist - all CS qualifications included. But I advertise for tree surgeons as that gets the most hits in a search.

When I first went to college the head of arboriculture told us we should aspire to be arborists, not tree surgeons.  That may have been his way of emphasizing the importance of knowing one's subject, then again it may just have been snobbery.

Among arborists, "arborist" is well understood and it's the word I'd use naturally.  For any other setting I'll say "tree surgeon".  To my mind the terms are entirely synonymous.

I am most certainly not, and never will be an "arboriculturalist": that would be someone who practices "arboricultural" and is a linguistic nonsense.  I think.  But then again, what do I know, I'm just a "tree guy".

Think the word you're looking for is arboriculturist.

9 hours ago, Gary Prentice said:

Think the word you're looking for is arboriculturist.

Gary he is not looking for it in fact he used it in the first line of the post and elsewhere ...  Oh . I see , spelling . Sorry mate . Take the pokey tongue back !

"Arboriculturist" is a word that just about  o-one has heard of, although it is formally used in BS5837 and a lot pf people who are doing 5837 surveys do not fall within the defined term (but fair play to them as no-one on the receiving end seems to give a damn). "Arboricultural consultant" is more useful because at least it emphasises that it's about consultancy rather than contracting, and escapes the linguistic trap that Tom has fallen into.

My dictionary says a tree surgeon is "someone who prunes and treats old or damaged trees in order to preserve them". B ut since there is no legal restriction on getting a chainsaw from B&Q and calling yourself a tree surgeon to sound all fancy, the tree butchers of suburbia were always going to latch onto that term.

Does anyone think the issue lies not with arboriculturist, but rather the word arboriculture?

I suspect a lot of people don't recognise horticulturist, which I think has been in common usage for a lot longer, so the derivatives of arboriculture- arborist, arboriculturist & arboricultural consultant are puzzling to most. 

I've used arborist as 'occupation' for years, the look of puzzlement that it invokes amuses me. If I'm feeling particularly mischievous I use arboriculturist.