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0 pointsmrob6y ago0 comments

>IIRC a similar event in the 19th century electrocuted a bunch of telegraph operators.

According to the Wikipedia article, it only gave some electric shocks, not actually killed them.

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9 comments · 2 top-level

ceejayoz6y ago· 7 in thread

Electrocution can refer to both death and injury via electrical shock.

hwillis6y ago

> Electrocution can refer to both death and injury via electrical shock.

I don't like being pedantic about language but given that the word is literally just a portmanteau of electricity and execution it's stupid to use it to refer to something other than death. It's not like execution can refer to someone being hurt. The only reason to use it to describe something nonlethal is because you don't realize that execution is part of the word.

Besides, "electrocuted" is a useful word and much less cumbersome than "killed via electrocution". We already have shock, arc, flash and burn for injuries and no other word to clarify lethality.

NeedMoreTea6y ago

Language and meaning evolves. Dictionaries aren't prescriptive, they report how words are used. Electrocution is currently defined as killed or injured by electricity by both Websters and Oxford, so it's a meaning that's caught on both sides of the Atlantic.

So I think that ship has sailed, whether you like it or not.

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derefr6y ago

"To electrocute" is a lot like "to hang" or "to bisect" or "to draw and quarter": it's a way to attempt to kill something. It doesn't necessarily succeed. You can be electrocuted successfully, or electrocuted unsuccessfully. Suffering an "electrocution injury" is like suffering a "hanging-related injury": it means that something tried to kill you, and you escaped less-than-fully dead. In legal terms, it's what causes someone to be charged with the crime of attempted murder.

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tlb6y ago

Wikipedia asserts that it only refers to death by electric shock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocution I agree it should only mean that. "Electric shock" is the term for something that hurts but doesn't kill.

tsimionescu6y ago

Yes, but it does so by citing Merriam Webster which explicitly says that it includes death or severe injury.

himinlomax6y ago

Problem is that there is no single word to mean "to shock or harm through electricity," thus "to electrocute" is used metonymically.

mc326y ago

True but it mostly refers to death via electric shock or severe injuries due to electric shock—which isn’t surprising since the word was coined to mean death by electric shock.

perl4ever6y ago

Did it decimate them?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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9 comments · 2 top-level

ceejayoz6y ago· 7 in thread

Electrocution can refer to both death and injury via electrical shock.

hwillis6y ago

> Electrocution can refer to both death and injury via electrical shock.

Besides, "electrocuted" is a useful word and much less cumbersome than "killed via electrocution". We already have shock, arc, flash and burn for injuries and no other word to clarify lethality.

NeedMoreTea6y ago

So I think that ship has sailed, whether you like it or not.

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derefr6y ago

2 more replies

tlb6y ago

tsimionescu6y ago

Yes, but it does so by citing Merriam Webster which explicitly says that it includes death or severe injury.

himinlomax6y ago

Problem is that there is no single word to mean "to shock or harm through electricity," thus "to electrocute" is used metonymically.

mc326y ago

True but it mostly refers to death via electric shock or severe injuries due to electric shock—which isn’t surprising since the word was coined to mean death by electric shock.

perl4ever6y ago

Did it decimate them?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse