this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] cmhe 75 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

In german there is only one word for it, which is a gift for german speakers.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago

I'd take poisonous/venomous over German grammar.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

Literally Gift or giftig.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Same in Spanish. Veneno for both posion/venom.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The fact that we're having this discussion at all kind of proves that either English is losing the distinction, or it was never as clear a distinction as people sometimes make it out to be. Either way I'm fine with it because it doesn't seem like a very useful distinction to make in everyday language, and you can sidestep it entirely by using a word like toxic instead.

[–] Anticorp 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We say poison tipped arrows, not venom tipped arrows, so there's at least one example of the words being interchangeable.

[–] 5too 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Nah, if I remember right, those arrows use the poison from a tree frog's skin, not something like a snake's venom. So still poison!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Same in Norway with "gift". Also, the same word is used for "married".

[–] Ransack3 42 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yep, seen this one before, by the standards outlined it means that:

Lava is poisonous and Bears are venomous.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Hmm, I was going to say there's a chance you survive biting lava - but technically there's also a chance you survive biting something poisonous.

So yeah, flawless logic. The most poisonous and venemous things happen to be the pure unbridled power of the earth and 900lbs of muscle and hungry.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago (9 children)

If I call a snake poisonous, or a frog venomous there is no knowledgeable person that will be confused about what I'm saying. The only people who bring this point up are people who love to be pedantic.

[–] CaptainPedantic 20 points 2 months ago

You called?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Would you say the same thing about being envious and being jealous?

[–] BugleFingers 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In the way that language is commonly used, yes. People have been using it wrong for so long "jealous" has effectively become synonymous with "envious". Even if I dislike and disagree with it being used this way.

If someone is eating a donut and you say "I'm so jealous [of having the donut]" I'm fairly confident most everyone would understand you mean envious by definition but are using the word jealous to convey that meaning.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Here's my comment from the last time this came up (like a week ago):

"There's been no meaning shift. The "possessive" and "envious" uses of jealous both date from the 14th century in English, and both senses were present in the ancestors of these words all the way back to Greek."

It's always been synonymous with "envious", as far back as we can trace.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And nauseous vs. nauseated.

[–] Chekhovs_Gun 3 points 2 months ago

Don't forget literally and figuratively

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Unless we're talking about eating the snake. That could cause some confusion.

[–] SparrowRanjitScaur 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You sound like the kind of person that thinks tomatoes are vegetables.

[–] Anticorp 3 points 2 months ago

How dare you!

[–] AEsheron 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Ah, but we can go even further beyond in pedantry. This distinction is only exclusive when we're talking about a living thing. When talking about the substances themselves, one is a subcategory of the other. A venomous snake is not poisonous, but a venomous venom is a poisonous poison.

[–] CheeseNoodle 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Actually a lot of venom is perfectly edible so long as you don't have a stomach ulcer or cut in your mouth or something.

[–] AEsheron 3 points 2 months ago

This is also true. Poisonous doesn't specifically mean "dangerous when eaten" when talking about the substance. It is an insanely broad category. It basically just means the substance is harmful.

[–] TechLich 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yep, and even when talking about living things it's not a clear distinction.

In biology, poison is a substance that causes harm when an organism is exposed to it. Venom is a poison that enters the body through a sting or bite. In a bunch of medical fields though, poisons only apply to toxins that are ingested or absorbed through the skin and that definition sometimes carries across to zoology.

Venomous creatures are poisonous by most definitions because venom is a poison. But if the distinction is useful in a medical or zoological context then they're not.

tldr: The pedantry of eg. correcting someone who says a snake is poisonous is totally pointless and mostly wrong.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

🤓 ahkschully venom is a poisonous toxin

~/s~

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

This is the flip side of people trying to justify all kinds of obviously incorrect language by saying it's just the language evolving.

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[–] cholesterol 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago
[–] Rolando 6 points 2 months ago

Froakie is unable to battle!

[–] samus12345 12 points 2 months ago (6 children)
[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I knew something was up. We're onto you /u/fossilesque

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Can't pull a fast one on you lot smh

[–] cmhe 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What if I put poison on my teeth, bite someone and they die?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Unlikely. You probably will injest the poison and die, and depending on if the poison also acts as a venom they may / may not.

It's probably more accurate to say "Venoms are injected. Poisons are injested. "

[–] cmhe 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

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

But I also suspect that there are poisons which are deadly when injected and more mildly toxic when ingested. But I am not a chemist.

[–] Anticorp 1 points 2 months ago

The poison from those frogs is deadly when injected. The natives use it to tip their darts and arrows.

[–] ZILtoid1991 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Can something be both poisonous and venomous at the same time?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Good question. Not an expert. Or even a amateur. But yea eating the venom can't be good.

[–] Anticorp 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Aren't those frogs also venomous? The natives use their toxin for tipping their hunting darts and arrows.

[–] Jiggle_Physics 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The toxins are excreted through their skin, and adhere with the oils that keep their skin moist. It is a defense that keeps other animal from eating/touching them. They are not really facilitated to bite as a defense. They pull prey in, and their mouth mostly crushes, and is used to swallow.

[–] Anticorp 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I meant that if we're saying it's venom when it kills you by it being introduced to your bloodstream, then their poison is also venom.

[–] LwL 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Afaik they all kill you by being introduced into your bloodstream, the difference is mainly how they're able to accomplish getting there. So any poison will kill you if you inject it, but venom will mostly be safe to eat barring any wounds.

[–] Jiggle_Physics 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

From the Natural History Museum UK website -

The hallmark of venom is that it's introduced via a wound. It can be injected through a number of means, including teeth, a sting, spines or claws. 'Poison is different as there is no wound involved. It can be absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin, inhaled or ingested,'

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

this whole thread bites

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