# I'm throwing down the gauntlet: Poison vs. Venom

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-throwing-down-the-gauntlet-poison-vs-venom/623972>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 3, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-throwing-down-the-gauntlet-poison-vs-venom/623972 "2012-06-03T21:56:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 115

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-throwing-down-the-gauntlet-poison-vs-venom/623972/115 "2012-06-07T03:03:20Z")

</div>

> [@Crazyhorse](#):
>
> It confuses the issue even more that we are talking about the adjective poison (e.g. poisonous snake) rather than the noun poison because a person can be poisoned by venom, ideas, polluted air, etc.

Now welcome to the aha moment. The original objection was to the adjective poison. This is quickly demonstrated:

> [@Is a rattlesnake bite always/usually fatal?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-rattlesnake-bite-always-usually-fatal/623913/13):
>
> ULTRA-PEDANTRY ALERT!
> 
> > [@jtgain](#):
> >
> > I spend time in a rural area and have never been bitten by a poisonous snake, but have heard of the deadliness of them. But how deadly are they?
> 
> > [@Colibri](#):
> >
> > You have to be fairly unlucky to die of the bite of a poisonous snake, even if you are bitten.  
> > Snakes are not poisonous, they are venomous.
> 
> Poison is ingested/absorbed/inhaled, while venom is injected via bite or sting.

jtgain and Colibri said the objection was incorrect (look at the posts linked in the OP)

> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> (I was originally going to post this in GD, but that forum doesn’t allow polls and I wanted to have one)
> 
> So in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=653926), someone asks about “ **poisonous snakes** ”, and in the name of pedantry, [I gently remind them](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15127455&postcount=13) of the difference between poison and venom. Then **Blake** [comes along](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15127496&postcount=14) and attempts to refute my argument by claiming that poison and venom essentially have the same meaning and are interchangeable terms. [Colibri agrees](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15128248&postcount=35). [I provide two cites](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15127971&postcount=30) which clearly state that venom is directly injected while poison is inhaled or ingested, backing up my original claim. But of course these go ignored.
> 
> So what say ye? Are you Team Poison or Team Venom?

He’s changed the goal posts. The objection was over the term “poisonous snakes” and not “poison” or venom." Both \*\*jtgain \*\*and \*\*Colibri \*\*argued that “poisonous snakes” is accectable but **Rigamarole** has argued that since the respective nouns are defined as such, by certain experts, that jitgain, Colibri, the OED, as well as the rest of the fucking world is wrong.

“Poisonous snakes” is perfectly correctly used in the circumstances of the linked thread. To create a thread based on a false dichonomy is not only overly pedantric but has crossed into a dishonest arguement. The two other posters were not arguing what **Rigamarole** is claiming they were.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-throwing-down-the-gauntlet-poison-vs-venom/623972)._