How does this happen ? The poster above you isn't really Polish ? How can someone that claims to know Polish not know there's two different words ?

▲

gambiting 19 hours ago | parent [-]

Obviously I know "jad" but I don't see any issue with calling venom "trucizna". Natural languages aren't C++ and you don't get compiler errors when you speak - to me, there is no issue calling both venoms and poison trucizna. Polish dictionary doesn't seem to contradict it either:

https://sjp.pwn.pl/slowniki/trucizna.html

The point is, both are correct(afaik) while in English venom and poison are definitely two different things.

▲

mbel 18 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Nobody would say „trujący wąż” (poisonous snake) or „jadowity grzyb” (venomous mushroom). The distinction is similar to English. There are exceptions and contexts where it can be used interchangeably but arguably the same is true for English.

▲

gambiting 17 hours ago | parent [-]

>>Nobody would say „trujący wąż”

No? That's how I've always said it. "Ta żmija jest trująca" - don't see any issue here. Jadowity grzyb I'll agree.

▲

gtech1 13 hours ago | parent [-]

This is fascinating, assuming you are both natives of Poland. Is there as much language variance in Poland as in, say, Italy ?

	▲	gambiting 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		No idea how much variance there is in Italy so not sure how to answer that question.

▲

thaumasiotes 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> The point is, both are correct(afaik) while in English venom and poison are definitely two different things.

No, the situation in English matches your description exactly: all of these things are called poison. The word venom is almost never used in natural speech.

Furthermore, if you ask English speakers what the difference between poison and venom is, by far the two most common responses will be "there isn't one" and "I don't know". icyfox is just looking to be annoying.

(Another popular option will probably be "it's called venom when you're talking about snakes", which explains roughly 100% of use of venom in natural speech.)