5 ms·
At the risk of being overly pedantic, topologists would typically classify this as venom. Venom is inert if digested; it's only a problem if it gets in your bl
by icyfox 9mo ago
At the risk of being overly pedantic, topologists would typically classify this as venom.
Venom is inert if digested; it's only a problem if it gets in your blood stream. So arrows that were laced with venom and thereby contaminated meat were actually perfectly safe to eat.
Poison is different. If ingested, inhaled, or absorbed it will kill you.
- VanshPatel99 9mo agoTIL. I always thought that "If it bite you -> you die = venom" and "If you eat, bite, touch -> you die = poison". But your differentiation makes more sense
- zahlman 9mo agoThat explains the words "venomous" and "poisonous" used of creatures. It's different for the actual substances. Although it relates: a venomous creature that bites you will release its venom into your bloodstream.
- anonym29 9mo ago>a venomous creature that bites you will release its venom into your bloodstream unless it's a bee, wasp, hornet, scorpion, stingray, jellyfish, man-of-war, platypus, lionfish, stonefish, sea urchin, or catfish, which all have venom instead of poison, but the delivery mechanism of said venom isn't biting
- zahlman 9mo agoI said "bite" echoing the comment I was replying to. Obviously the same applies, mutatis mutandis, to stinging etc.
- hearsathought 9mo agoIf a venomous snake bites you, you die. If you bite a venomous snake, you live. If a poisonous snake bites you, you will. If you bite a poisonous snake, you die. Or Hamlet's mother died by drinking poisoned wine. Hamlet died by being stabbed with an envenomed sword.
- NedF 9mo ago[dead]
- hyrix 9mo agoThese chemicals are derived from plants where even pedants would classify them as poisons. The genus name Boophone is from the Greek bous = ox, and phontes= killer of, a clear warning that eating the plant can be fatal to livestock.
- icyfox 9mo agoFair point about the source, but the classification usually follows the mode of delivery, not the organism of origin. Many plant-derived compounds function as venoms once introduced into the bloodstream (arrow coatings, darts, etc.), even if they’re also toxic when ingested. Curare is one example of a plant-based compound - lethal in blood, but largely harmless if eaten. So while Boophone is absolutely a poison in the ecological sense, using it on arrows still fits the venom/toxin distinction better than a purely ingested poison. Otherwise why would people hunt with this if they got sick the second they ate the meat?
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- jeltz 9mo agoIs it really? We call it poison darts when hunters use poison from the poison dart frog to hunt.
- cluckindan 9mo agoHuh, so telephone is killer of distance and Persephone is killer of… Persians? Grain? Vegetation?
- stared 9mo agoYou're mixing up phōnē (voice) and phonos (slaughter), but the truth about Persephone is actually more metal. Her name predates Greek contacts with Persians, so the timeline doesn't fit. Instead, it comes from perthein (to destroy) + phonos, making her the "Bringer of Destruction". With a caveat that the etymology of her name is uncertain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone#Name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone#Name I do like "killer of distance" for telephone, though. :)
- skrebbel 9mo agoWe Dutch solve this problem by having a single word for "poison", "venom and "toxin"¹. Everybody still knows what you mean and nobody gets to be pedantic. ¹ and "badly compressed looping animation"
- gambiting 9mo agoSame in Polish. You'd just call both of these "trucizna".
- mbel 9mo agoNot really, we have both „jad” (venom) and „trucizna” (poison).
- gtech1 9mo agoHow does this happen ? The poster above you isn't really Polish ? How can someone that claims to know Polish not know there's two different words ?
- gambiting 9mo agoObviously I know "jad" but I don't see any issue with calling venom "trucizna". Natural languages aren't C++ and you don't get compiler errors when you speak - to me, there is no issue calling both venoms and poison trucizna. Polish dictionary doesn't seem to contradict it either: https://sjp.pwn.pl/slowniki/trucizna.html https://sjp.pwn.pl/slowniki/trucizna.html The point is, both are correct(afaik) while in English venom and poison are definitely two different things.
- mbel 9mo agoNobody would say „trujący wąż” (poisonous snake) or „jadowity grzyb” (venomous mushroom). The distinction is similar to English. There are exceptions and contexts where it can be used interchangeably but arguably the same is true for English.
- throwaway5465 9mo agoNot overly pedantic at all as it highlights that by using venom the hunters were able to eat what they shot.
- Retric 9mo agoIn practice the difference is mostly semantics. Venom is still almost always poisonous when eaten and poison is harmful when injected. 2-3% as dangerous when eaten vs injected only helps so much.
- readthenotes1 9mo ago"mostly semantics" Semantics: 1 (linguistics) the study of meanings I am not sure what could be more important. But perhaps you "word choice"?
- Retric 9mo agoWhat things are more important than the study of meanings in a linguistic context? Well semantics only covers an infinitesimal fraction of all meaning. Consider if I inject arsenic into a snakes venom sac is it now a venom? Nothing about your answer changes anything about what’s going on, yet you could still debate the question. So when you say “what could be more important” I can only say that just about everything is more important.
- OptionOfT 9mo agoBut eating a rattlesnake and dying is a bad way of finding out that you have a stomach ulcer.
- smohare 9mo ago[dead]
- jeltz 9mo agoI am not a native speaker but I believe you are wrong. It is called poison dart for example. So injected toxins can be both called poisons and venoms.
- mrleinad 9mo agoIn Spanish it's commonly "dardo venenoso" (venomous dart), no "dardo ponzoñoso" (poisonous dart). So it's probably incorrectly used in English.
- Gud 9mo agoNot pedantic, two different. Thanks for clarifying.