Talk:venomous
Etymology[edit]
@Sgconlaw, Fenakhay I have to side with Fenakhay here, the way it is written now it's very hard to get anything useful out of it at all. Honestly, this is why we are a wiki, people can click on the link if they want the full story, but most don't, and giving it forcibly just makes them lose any interest at all. Thadh (talk) 14:54, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
- I also have to agree with Fenakhay. There may be some middle ground between Fenakhay's short version and Sgconlaw's very very long version, but Sgconlaw, when you do your excellent work to make entries complete with quotations etc, I do notice that you tend to also inflate them with tons of stuff (here e.g. the list of 38 ways that Middle English spelled venemous, and almost full-definition-length copies of the Middle English entry's definitions) that belongs at and should be moved to, or in many cases is already at, other entries (in this case, the Middle English entry). We should avoid duplicating huge masses of content, especially unimportant content like the fact that Middle English spelling — which was not standardized and united around one set spelling in any other case — happens to have not been standardized and united around one set spelling in this case either. IMO we also don't need full definition-length repetition of every etymon's definitions where these can be explained in a few words. I don't think this is the first time this has come up. - -sche (discuss) 16:11, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
- An appropriate link to the Middle English Dictionary could probably provide all the alternative spellings one could want - and more. DCDuring (talk) 16:38, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
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Rfv-sense: Supposedly "Powerful". The one cite, from BBC Sports, is ambiguous. It could also fit, better IMHO, with a sense like "sneaky" or "wicked". DCDuring (talk) 18:18, 20 December 2023 (UTC)
- I interpret venomous in this context as meaning "struck with such power as to leave a stinging sensation on the skin of anyone unlucky enough to get in the way". Indeed, stinging is also used for this purpose. Numerous instances of the phrase "unleashed a venomous/stinging shot/strike" can be googled. This goal (YoutTube link) was described as "a venomous strike" by the Independent, and the match summarizer is heard to remark at 1:34 "wow, this has got power behind it". Voltaigne (talk) 00:16, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
- Resolved: I think it is sufficient to define it as "posing a threat; dangerous, threatening" (like a venomous animal). In the two football quotations it doesn't appear as if the ball actually made contact with and thus "stung" anyone, and I think it might be reading too much into the quotations to justify a "sneaky" or "wicked" reading (though this is an obsolete sense—see sense 5.2). — Sgconlaw (talk) 22:51, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
- I was thinking of wicked in the sense:
- I've heard folks using wicked that way. To use venomous in that slot conveys the same intensifier sense with a bit more color, as is typical of the numerous UK sports citations that infect our entries. DCDuring (talk) 00:19, 12 January 2024 (UTC)
- Resolved: I think it is sufficient to define it as "posing a threat; dangerous, threatening" (like a venomous animal). In the two football quotations it doesn't appear as if the ball actually made contact with and thus "stung" anyone, and I think it might be reading too much into the quotations to justify a "sneaky" or "wicked" reading (though this is an obsolete sense—see sense 5.2). — Sgconlaw (talk) 22:51, 11 January 2024 (UTC)