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

Laurie Gerholz wrote:
> No, not if it was accidental. But I wouldn't call it "drink" if actual
> beverages were ingested accidentally. Imagine the unpleasant scenario of
> a frat party where an unlucky pledge has alcohol forcibly poured into
> him. I'd say that the pledge was forced to "swallow", as you suggest,
> but I wouldn't use the verb "drink" unless there was volition involved.
> I guess I never perceived it as a metaphorical use.
Hmm, "he was forced to drink alcohol", "he was forced to swallow
alcohol".  I'd use "drink", altho "swallow" doesn't sound all that odd
to me.  I don't think that volitional has anything to do with my usage
of "drink", it's entirely the _manner_ in which the substance is
ingested and the _substance_ itself (liquid) - it has to be something
that is normally ingested either to sustain life (e.g., water, milk,
etc.), or harmless (well, relatively harmless), non-medicinal substances
(e.g., soda, alcoholic beverages).  The fact that one can "drink" to the
point of alcohol poisoning suggests that there's something I'm
overlooking - perhaps it's just that alcohol is normally harmless (in
the short run).  I'd say that volitional drinking of poisoning is
metaphorical, but, again, perhaps I'm overlooking something.  It's just
not a volitional distinction, as I could say that someone was "forced to
drink" something, like alcohol.

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