Re: CHAT drinking soup: (was: Malat (on behalf of Garrett))

Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> Nik Taylor wrote:
> > So,
> > maybe it is entirely a volitional thing after all - it's just that the
> > verb "take" over-rides the verb "drink" in the case of medicine.
>
> No, I take that back.  If a child or a pet were to ingest antifreeze, I
> wouldn't use "drink", I'd use "swallow", even tho it's an entirely
> volitional act - so the substance *does* matter.  It has to be a
> substance that is expected to be potable, or something like that.  Ack!
> And I thought it was so simple.  :-)
>
I'll admit it. I probably wouldn't use "drink" for the antifreeze. But I
still would for the hemlock tea. Maybe I do have a distinction on the
nature of the liquid too. How about this -- hemlock tea may be poison,
but it has been brewed up for the *purpose* of having someone ingest it.
But antifreeze has been concocted for a purpose completely separate from
ingestion by living creatures.

But Carlos tossed in another one that I'd forgotten about: blood! After
all my reading of vampire literature, it does sound semantically correct
to "drink" blood.

Laurie
milo@winternet.com