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#202909 10/22/2011 9:11 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
the way in which aquatic creatures die due to being out of the water? When we can't get air, we asphyxiate; what do they do?

Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706
I think you could still say 'asphyxiate' Jackie
as they die from lack of oxygen, not lack of water. They need to be in the water to breathe.

Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Ok; thanks.

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
asphyxia
1706, "stoppage of pulse," from Modern Latin, from Gk. asphyxia "stopping of the pulse," from a- "not" + sphyzein "to throb." The current sense of "suffocation" is from 1778, but it is a "curious infelicity of etymology" [OED] since victims of suffocation have a pulse for some time after breathing has stopped.


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