Sep 29, 2016 09:56
7 yrs ago
12 viewers *
English term
Infectious or contagious?
English
Medical
Medical (general)
I'm Italian and I work in a language school. We are getting ready for new English courses and we are preparing entry tests in order to assess students' level. We basically get our tests from a few websites. Days ago our English teacher showed me a question she got wrong in the test:
I don’t think you should visit me today. I still think I am ____
- infectious
- contagious
- contaminated
She chose contagious (I would have replied the same way) but the right answer is "infectious". We still are thinking about the reason why. My only logical thought would be that the person speaking hasn't been meeting people since he/she got sick and is worried about transmitting germs to other people (and I consider it as a first phase, since a contagious disease is people-to-people, while an infectious disease is germs-to-people, according with what I've read). Plus, I'd say that "contagious" would be used for more serious diseases, and not for a flu or a cold.
I submitted this question to other people and all fo them replied by saying "contagious" but is not the right one.
Would you help me understanding a real logic behind this question? Thank you very much!
I don’t think you should visit me today. I still think I am ____
- infectious
- contagious
- contaminated
She chose contagious (I would have replied the same way) but the right answer is "infectious". We still are thinking about the reason why. My only logical thought would be that the person speaking hasn't been meeting people since he/she got sick and is worried about transmitting germs to other people (and I consider it as a first phase, since a contagious disease is people-to-people, while an infectious disease is germs-to-people, according with what I've read). Plus, I'd say that "contagious" would be used for more serious diseases, and not for a flu or a cold.
I submitted this question to other people and all fo them replied by saying "contagious" but is not the right one.
Would you help me understanding a real logic behind this question? Thank you very much!
Responses
3 | infectious (based on word etymology) | Lingua 5B |
3 +8 | could be either. | Jack Doughty |
5 | Contagious | Michael Barnett |
References
Ebola: contagious or infectious | Joanna Carroll |
Change log
Sep 29, 2016 09:56: Yana Dovgopol changed "Vetting" from "Needs Vetting" to "Vet OK"
Responses
1 hr
Selected
infectious (based on word etymology)
I will based this answer on a reference relating to etymology of both words, where contagious in older Latin version is clearly putting a bigger focus on body contact. so someone can pay a visit to someone else without touching them. while the other word would work better is self-explanatory as it means even the air around the person can be infectious due to virus, particles, sneezing, etc.
Ref:
from dictionary.com:
1350-1400; Middle English infecten < Latin infectus (past participle of inficere to immerse in dye, discolor, taint, poison), equivalent to in- in-2+ -fec-, combining form of facere to do1, make (see fact ) + -tus past participle suffix
1350-1400; Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin contāgiōn- (stem of contāgiō) contact, infection, equivalent to con- con- + tāg- (variant stem of tangere to touch) + -iōn- -ion; cf. contact
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Note added at 1 hr (2016-09-29 11:42:10 GMT)
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I know the words can change connotations after centuries of usage and history, but I will base this answer on the old, original meanings.
Ref:
from dictionary.com:
1350-1400; Middle English infecten < Latin infectus (past participle of inficere to immerse in dye, discolor, taint, poison), equivalent to in- in-2+ -fec-, combining form of facere to do1, make (see fact ) + -tus past participle suffix
1350-1400; Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin contāgiōn- (stem of contāgiō) contact, infection, equivalent to con- con- + tāg- (variant stem of tangere to touch) + -iōn- -ion; cf. contact
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Note added at 1 hr (2016-09-29 11:42:10 GMT)
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I know the words can change connotations after centuries of usage and history, but I will base this answer on the old, original meanings.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you!"
+8
12 mins
could be either.
Logic behind the question? Not enough! Contaminated is certainly wrong, it could be said of a substance but not of people, but it could be either of the others depending what the person concerned is suffering from.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Tony M
: Please see my discussion entry, Jack. :-) / I agree! Maybe it's something to do with an expression in their source language, intended to trap theml?
15 mins
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I agree that all are possible but I think "contaminated" is sufficiently rare to be excluded in a test like this. You don't expect to teach students the finer points of irony.
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agree |
Armorel Young
: "contaminated" is clearly wrong in a language-learning context, but both the others are right
27 mins
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Thank you.
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agree |
Charles Davis
: In my view, as explained in the discussion, infectious and contagious are both possible, but one is more likely to say infectious, and contagious is probably being treated as wrong (incorrectly so, in fact) for other reasons.
3 hrs
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Thank you.
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agree |
jccantrell
: In the USA, general conversation would use 'contagious.' Infectious might be used by doctors but I have never heard it in a conversation context.
6 hrs
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Thank you.
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agree |
Sheri P
: Agree with jccantrell about US usage
7 hrs
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Thank you.
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agree |
philgoddard
7 hrs
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Thank you.
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agree |
Richard Sanders
: Rick Sanders
17 hrs
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Thank you.
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agree |
acetran
1 day 5 hrs
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Thank you.
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agree |
Yasutomo Kanazawa
2 days 5 hrs
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Thank you.
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13 hrs
Contagious
I am a physician. The words are quite different to me.
An infectious disease is any disease caused by invasion by an organism. The organism could be a virus, a bacterium, a fungus, etc. It is irrelevant how the infection was acquired.
On the other hand, contagious means that the disease can be transmitted to another person. It is irrelevant whether it is transmitted by direct contact, through the air, through sex, needle sticks, etc. There are many examples of infectious diseases which are not contagious. For example, Lyme disease is not contagious from person-to-person because the spirochete is transmitted by a tick bite.
Furthermore, if a person has chickenpox, an infectious disease, he is not contagious to those around him if they have been vaccinated against chickenpox or have had the disease themselves at an earlier time.
An infectious disease is any disease caused by invasion by an organism. The organism could be a virus, a bacterium, a fungus, etc. It is irrelevant how the infection was acquired.
On the other hand, contagious means that the disease can be transmitted to another person. It is irrelevant whether it is transmitted by direct contact, through the air, through sex, needle sticks, etc. There are many examples of infectious diseases which are not contagious. For example, Lyme disease is not contagious from person-to-person because the spirochete is transmitted by a tick bite.
Furthermore, if a person has chickenpox, an infectious disease, he is not contagious to those around him if they have been vaccinated against chickenpox or have had the disease themselves at an earlier time.
Reference comments
26 mins
Reference:
Ebola: contagious or infectious
might clear some confusion...
Reference:
http://healthjournalism.org/blog/2014/10/choose-words-carefully-when-writing-about-ebola/
Discussion
So it hasn't been a waste of time for me, but I do think it's a waste of time discussing the test question that gave rise to this any further. I have heard more than enough to convince me that treating "contagious" as a wrong answer is unjustified. Possibly whoever set the question is a speaker of British English and felt that people just wouldn't say "contagious" in that situation (which is by no means entirely true). A US speaker using "contagious" correctly and idiomatically will fail the test. Whatever the reason, it's a rubbish question, and those who answered "contagious" and were marked wrong should just shrug it off and proceed.
since this is a test, and it's colloquial, it's not likely they are talking about Lyme disease, for instance. but then again, we can only be guessing and never be sure.
Note that the test example is colloquial and not an exchange between medical professionals. It also raises the question of whether the teacher who chose the "wrong" answer learnt a different version of English from the writer of the test. (Note my rearguard struggle against the invasion of the UK by the US "different than".)
Re Charles' comment that "This sort of thing happens all the time in language tests. Answers that are not wrong are treated as wrong in order to teach a simple message, ..." That shouldn't happen, because it penalises students who have a better understanding already. However, judging by what I have heard from English parents with children in French schools, it happens more often that the teacher doesn't really understand the question and its answer(s).
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/contagious
so how can we discuss it?
but here are some points taken from dictionary.com:
1350-1400; Middle English infecten < Latin infectus (past participle of inficere to immerse in dye, discolor, taint, poison), equivalent to in- in-2+ -fec-, combining form of facere to do1, make (see fact ) + -tus past participle suffix
1350-1400; Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin contāgiōn- (stem of contāgiō) contact, infection, equivalent to con- con- + tāg- (variant stem of tangere to touch) + -iōn- -ion; cf. contact
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based on these examples, I would say that contagious is more related to body contact and touch, while infectious can be even the air or breath close to the infected person. even if this distinction is true (which we can't confirm), how do we know if there will be any body contact upon visit (it may even be a friendly hug)?
In practice, I think we would usually say "infectious" in this situation, because if we are urging someone not to visit us we probably have in mind the risk of infection, not just contagion.
But what may lie behind the question, and the insistence on "infectious" as the answer, is (a) requiring people to be aware of the difference and not use them loosely as synonyms, as ordinary native speakers often do, actually, and (b) encouraging people not to say "contagious" in English just because they would say "contagioso" in Italian. In Spanish people hardly ever use "infeccioso"; they say "contagioso" even if they mean infectious, and using "contagioso" simply to mean transmissible (or liable to transmit) is not considered wrong. I suspect it may be the same in Italian
However, contagious technically describes a disease specifically passed on by direct contact. (The organisms causing the disease cannot survive long outside the body, or are not volatile.)
Infectious diseases can be passed on in other ways, in the air, water or otherwise. The air, water, clothing, whatever is then contaminated.
Emotions and attitudes can be infectious or contagious, but that is another matter!
'contaminated' would be humorous; we might well say "I don't want to contaminate you with my germs!" But cf. earlier uses, going back to Biblical times, of the expression 'unclean' in this same sort of context.
I think the key point is that a DISEASE can be contagious, because you can catch it — but one can't strictly say that a PERSON is contagious, since you can't catch a person! (Well, only if you run fast enough!) But in technically imprecise, everyday language, we DO say this!
'infectious', on the other hand, means 'capable of infecting' — and hence is the correct choice when talking about a person. Cf. expressions like 'infectious waste' — not waste you might catch, but waste from which you might catch something.