# Words one can get confused

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 18, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772 "2022-09-18T20:10:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 97

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/97 "2022-09-19T18:50:30Z")

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Well, I think that most would agree that @Colibri was the board’s expert on such matters. I defer to his opinion which he expressed in several threads.

> [@Animals recently found to be venomous](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-recently-found-to-be-venomous/780600/10):
>
> To forestall a pedantic nitpick, there are some that claim that “poisonous” applies only to plants or animals that have toxic compounds in their tissues, while “venomous” should be restricted to animals that inject toxic compounds. I’ve never found a basis for the former technical distinction. “Poisonous” can be applied to both organisms that are themselves toxic, and those that inject venom. “Poisonous snake” is a perfectly valid description.

> [@Chinese Whiskey and SNAKES!?!?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/25):
>
> We’ve been through this before. This is a bit of incorrect pedantry. Venomous is a subset of poisonous. It’s perfectly correct to refer to snakes as being poisonous; they are also venomous.

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