Yeahl, we've all got our favorite colloquialisms and our favorite ideas of important language; I stick with slay/slew/slain because it's using the old grammar for an old word, thus evoking heroic deeds we associate with those ancient days, but on the other hand I'd drive herpetologists NUTS because I really don't care about the vital difference between "poisonous" and "venomous," any more than I do about the precise subcategories of feathers.And just the other day, my 87-y/o mother and I were snarking about some politician talking about "preserving our vital institutions," and I said "Vital to ... just who?" and my mother corrected that to "whom." (I use "whom" just fine in writing, but not in mid-snark, I guess.)But at least she agrees with me about the irrelevance of "venomous" for non-specialists.To each his (or her, or your, or y'all's) own,--Nonie