Venomous poison

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I must have heard a thousand times Alice Cooper's song "Poison", but I had never paid attention to the lyrics. I recently noticed that one verse says: "I want to kiss you but your lips are venomous poison".

For me it's a pleonastic expression and it sounds incorrect, but do you find it valid?

*the kind of things that keep me awake at night*

[wrholt]

The song qualifies as poetry; if Mr. Cooper felt that these words expressed what he wanted to say, then it's valid.

"Venomous" typically describes animals, especially snakes, that are capable of injecting venom by means of a bite or sting, while "poisonous" typically describes plants or substances that are capable of causing death or illness if taken into the body. The difference is that venom is forced into the body by an attacker, while a poison is taken into the body voluntarily.

The expression "venomous poison" suggests something that is taken into the body in the manner of a poison, but the taking in is forced rather than voluntary. I agree that the expression is quite strange out of context.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you for your help, Wrholt.
Poetic language has its own rules of course, but I guess the expression bothered me because in Spanish I was taught to avoid such constructions and when I tried to translate it there was no way to make it work.

[Sancho Panther]

It definitely is a pleonasm, IMO.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you, Sancho.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Of course it is. And I have heard poisonous snakes .

[JPablo]

Sí, el veneno venenoso que envenena mis neuronas, envenena mis sentidos y envenena hasta a mi nena..., por desgracia, me envenené con una gamba rancia, (yo que creía que era una buena cena), teniendo la barriga llena, se me llegó a hinchar la vena, ¡maldito veneno venenoso del camarón asqueroso!

Bueno, hablando de pleonasmos y "rebuznancias", aquí os dejo una improvisada, en plan dadaísta enveneNAO... ;-)