Snakes aren’t poisonous

Meet my latest pet peeve.

• “Poisonous” means you eat or inhale or absorb the bad stuff
• “Venomous” means the bad stuff is injected via a sting or bite

If you bite it and you die it’s poison, but if it bites you and you die, that’s venom.

Dr. Ronald Jenner

So snakes are not poisonous. Scorpions are not poisonous. Jellyfish are not poisonous. They’re venomous.

Mushrooms (the bad kind) are poisonous. Poison ivy is poisonous (and very well named). Deadly nightshade is poisonous.

Please stop talking about poisonous snakes. That’s not a thing unless you’re eating snakes.