Semantics Question - why do people DO drugs but TAKE medication?

[warpus]

I've thought about it and "take" makes it easier to imagine something that happens and is over quickly and is even in a way something that is not really a part of your friday night plans but more like a thing that just has to get done so that you don't die or have a horrible time or whatever. You take it, the process lasts 5 seconds, and then you move on to the rest of your day. It sounds medical.

"Do" implies more the active act of doing something. Such as the act of participating in a social drug-taking with friends. Which can last hours or even days instead of just 5 seconds. And it's an event and not just over in 5 seconds.

 

[Tahuti]

I mean marijuana is now legal in many places and you still "do" it and don't "take" it, even when it's for medicinal purposes.

It's not an illegal vs legal split. It's a linguistic one. It's just how English evolved.

English evolved to be a deregulated mess. Not unlike the very economic systems which promote it.

 

[Sommerswerd]

b/c drugs are an activity whereas medication is a task

 

[warpus]

Mind you it's "Hey let's drop some acid", which in my mind is a lot more similar to "take" than "do"

It's English though, it doesn't have to make sense

 

[Traitorfish]

"Take" implies a discrete action, "do" implies context. "Taking drugs" describes the action of ingesting narcotics, "doing drugs" invoke seedy people in seedy places doing seedy things.

 

[warpus]

I disagree, you can do drugs legally in a safe place with awesome people around. Not that I've ever done anything like that, but it's possible. Same as it's possible to have a beer with awesome people around. It doesn't need to be seedy necessarily.

 

[Traitorfish]

Well, sure. But my point was, that's why the term is preferred by mainstream media sources.

 

[warpus]

I dunno, I think they say "Kids were seen doing drugs" as opposed to "Kids were seen taking drugs" because IMO the latter implies the actual act of taking the drug while the former implies all associated activities that go along with that.

 

[Traitorfish]

That's... what I said?

 

[warpus]

Not quite! "Associated activities that go along with that" doesn't necessarily have a negative slant to it.

Unless these drugs I've been taking are clouding my judgement and are causing me to misunderstand what you said

 

[Traitorfish]

I think that "doing drugs" is generally a negative description. If the speaker has a neutral or positive attitude towards drugs, they're probably going to specify what kind of drugs, to reassure the listener that it's not one of the proper brain-rotters and/or they're a Cool Hip Young type who understands the chemical and cultural distinctions between different kinds of drugs. This might be described as "doing", but it might not, depending on the substance; you can "do" ecstasy but you can't "do" cannabis, fr'example.

 

[Sommerswerd]

The negative connotation comes from the word "drugs" as opposed to "medication"

 

[warpus]

How would you say "that guy is doing drugs" in a positive way though? "Doing drugs" seems neutral to me, but maybe it's a cultural thing

 

[Gori the Grey]

My favorite is that we have two separate words for hitting our lower extremities against something. we stub our toes but bark our shins.

We use the verbs for almost nothing else except injuries to just those body parts. The toe needs its own word for hitting up against something, and the shin needs its own word. Crazy.

 

[Sommerswerd]

My favorite is that we have two separate words for hitting our lower extremities against something. we stub our toes but bark our shins.

We use the verbs for almost nothing else except injuries to just those body parts. The toe needs its own word for hitting up against something, and the shin needs its own word. Crazy.

I think its "bang" for shins not bark... I've never heard bark used, only bang. Typo?

I think that "doing drugs" is generally a negative description. If the speaker has a neutral or positive attitude towards drugs, they're probably going to specify what kind of drugs, to reassure the listener that it's not one of the proper brain-rotters and/or they're a Cool Hip Young type who understands the chemical and cultural distinctions between different kinds of drugs. This might be described as "doing", but it might not, depending on the substance; you can "do" ecstasy but you can't "do" cannabis, fr'example.

But "taking drugs" also has a negative connotation as opposed to "taking medication" does it not? And what about ""on drugs" versus "on medication"? Same thing right?

I really think its the word "drug" that is the heavy.

 

[JollyRoger]

Probably for close to the same reason we saw this: