Malat (to eat / to drink)

Garrett wrote:
>
> Well, over here, i'm going to make drink and eat the same word. Is
> there a necessary distinction?
But actually that's not the same action: eating involves chewing,
whereas drinking only involves deglutition. So yes, the distinction
might be useful.

Using the same word for eating and drinking is possible in
English: it is merely the verb "to ingest". It may even apply
to insects (with mandibles) or birds (with a beak). It's very
general, but is it really what you want?

> The equivalent in english is implied by what is actually consumed
> (food or liquid).
What about things that are both solid and liquid (e.g. soup
with pieces of vegetables)? Here you *drink* the liquid part
and *eat/swallow* the solid parts at the same time. In these
cases, natlangs usually make an arbitrary choice.

                      ****

These issues are rather usual when dealing with constructed
vocabulary. I believe that one should try to restrict the
semantic field of its terms without risking to impoverish
the language (though one might try to reach a certain level
of conciseness).


Didier.
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