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.
If it’s colloquially accepted then that does tend to be the case.
If they are just saying the wrong words and trying to justify it, that’s a different story. But far too often it’s colloquial and classicalists are just being obtuse by not growing with the language.
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.
Would you say the same thing about being envious and being jealous?
And nauseous vs. nauseated.
Unless we’re talking about eating the snake. That could cause some confusion.
This is the flip side of people trying to justify all kinds of obviously incorrect language by saying it’s just the language evolving.
If it’s colloquially accepted then that does tend to be the case.
If they are just saying the wrong words and trying to justify it, that’s a different story. But far too often it’s colloquial and classicalists are just being obtuse by not growing with the language.
A possibly important distinction is lost, though.
Wait until you have to go out in the wilderness and eat snakes. Then you find a non-venomous snake with hypodermic poison.