A note to writers

[edg]

Poisons have antidotes. Diseases have treatments.

More specifically, diseases have inoculations, vaccines, treatments, cures, and palliatives.

An inoculation is anything introduced into someone's system in an attempt to prevent him from acquiring the disease.
A vaccine is a specific kind of inoculation that involves introducing weakened or dead pathogens into the patient's system to stimulate antibody production, cellular immunity, and other autonomic defenses.
A treatment is any action taken to counteract the effects of a disease. Treatments can work on either the symptoms of a disease or the disease itself, and can be administered before or during the onset of the disease. (In other words, inoculations, cures, and palliatives can accurately be called "treatments", as can anything else used to counteract a disease or its symptoms.)
A cure is anything introduced into someone's system that eradicates a disease.
A palliative is anything introduced into someone's system that eases the symptoms of a disease without affecting the disease itself.

There is no such thing as an antidote to a disease. The language doesn't work that way. Only poisons have antidotes.

(EDITED at 10:04 AM to add palliatives to the list, not only because chadu's kung fu is best, but because "palliative" is an awesome word and I can't believe I forgot it.)

Comments

[rvdammit.livejournal.com]

of course I got it arse about face too :/

fingers faster than brain, duh!