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We 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 an
by skrebbel 10mo ago
We 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 10mo agoSame in Polish. You'd just call both of these "trucizna".
- mbel 10mo agoNot really, we have both „jad” (venom) and „trucizna” (poison).
- gtech1 10mo 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 10mo 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 10mo 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.
- gambiting 10mo ago>>Nobody would say „trujący wąż” No? That's how I've always said it. "Ta żmija jest trująca" - don't see any issue here. Jadowity grzyb I'll agree.
- gtech1 10mo agoThis is fascinating, assuming you are both natives of Poland. Is there as much language variance in Poland as in, say, Italy ?
- gambiting 10mo agoNo idea how much variance there is in Italy so not sure how to answer that question.
- gtech1 10mo agoItaly, the core remnant of the Roman Empire, has unmatched language diversity, often varies even from town to town. It's a colorful mosaic of micro cultures and customs where people from one region using different words for venom/poison is completely normal, in their local dialect. Everyone speaks standard Italian though. You've never visited Italy ? They're not that far away and I'm sure you'll love it.
- thaumasiotes 10mo ago> The point is, both are correct(afaik) while in English venom and poison are definitely two different things. No, the situation in English matches your description exactly: all of these things are called poison. The word venom is almost never used in natural speech. Furthermore, if you ask English speakers what the difference between poison and venom is, by far the two most common responses will be "there isn't one" and "I don't know". icyfox is just looking to be annoying. (Another popular option will probably be "it's called venom when you're talking about snakes", which explains roughly 100% of use of venom in natural speech.)
- usrnm 10mo agoAnd in Russian we use "jad" ("яд" in cyrillic) for both. Although there is the word "отрава", which can be used for poisons and "яд" is closer to "venom" the difference is almost non-existant and both are often used interchangeably.
- XCSme 10mo agoIs the word "stamppot" ?
- samlinnfer 10mo agoSame in Chinese (毒). But it is a better solution just not to give pedants the time of the day.
- readthenotes1 10mo agoYou can't really, can you? At the very least, they'd complain about accuracy, if not time zone, or even how we should all be on UTC (do not get one started on the difference between GMT and UTC if you value your... time)
- OptionOfT 10mo agoVergif. I don't know how you get from 'ver' to badly compressed. (And I'm a native Flemish speaker, but living in the USA for 8+ years, so I barely, if ever speak it).
- tharkun__ 10mo agoRemove Ver, add t and you got German: Gift Vergiftet would be past tense. Funny that in English gift is a word but entirely different meaning. Languages are fun, especially in Europe where they're all different but all so related but everyone does not want to admit it.
- birdsongs 10mo agoIn Norwegian, "gift" is poison. It's also the word for married (de er gift).
- pantalaimon 10mo agoIn German "Mitgift" is what the bride gets from her family when she enters marriage.
- animal531 10mo agoIt's probably the same, for example in Afrikaans its just gif. Vergif is the verb action of doing it, and vergiftig the same past tense of it having happened previously.
- stevekemp 10mo ago> all so related but everyone does not want to admit it. I'm laughing in Finnish..
- tharkun__ 10mo agoHehe, you found the exception that proves the rule :P
- pjmlp 10mo agoSame in Portuguese, veneno. Although there are plenty of other opportunities for pedantry, especially when we take regionalisms, and other Portuguese speaking countries into account.