corpse vs cadaver love

corpse vs cadaver

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  • This is a serious question. What's the main difference in meaning between these two words? I like the sound of "cadaver" better, but I'm not sure if it's correct in the gag below:

    Another cavader

    in a lawn chair...

    challenging me

    to a staring contest

    October 30, 2008

  • Help, somebody!

    October 30, 2008

  • Dunno, frogster. Cadaver is more clinical-sounding, but I think they both mean the same thing: a dead body. Could be wrong though.

    October 30, 2008

  • I'd say that a cadaver is a medical specimen and a corpse is a dead body. If that helps...

    October 30, 2008

  • I wish I could help you... but you'd better ask someone else (maybe rolig? He usually answers this kind of questions)

    (Edit: my comment was written at the same moment as yarb's and trivet's, when I thought nobody was replying)

    October 30, 2008

  • Cadaver makes me think "suave cavalier"--corpse makes me think "mobster gothic".

    October 30, 2008

  • trivet is right: cadaver is the (mainly) medical term for corpse. Both words have Latin origins, so that's clearly not the reason for the doctors choosing "cadaver" over the other. Cadaver comes from cadere to fall, while corpse comes from corpus meaning body.

    So perhaps the doctors want to make it clear that the body is not merely a body but a fallen (dead) one before they start hacking it about???

    October 30, 2008

  • Thanks, future corpses!

    October 30, 2008

  • I'm pledged to medical science; I'm a future cadaver.

    October 30, 2008

  • Okay. Thanks, future corpses... and, uh, future yarb.

    October 30, 2008

  • Is this better than Alien v Predator?

    October 30, 2008

  • I have never heard cadaver used in reference to anything but human remains, but I have occasionally seen the word corpses used to refer to non-humans (though always it's used as an adjective). Anyone else notice this?

    October 30, 2008

  • Animals are more often carcasses, but yes, I see what you mean. But I don't see what you mean by "used as an adjective".

    ?

    October 30, 2008

  • It's not a cadaver until its cold. Now what about carcasses?

    October 30, 2008

  • I mean one never says, when speaking of squirrels for example, "corpses," unless one says "squirrel corpses." I said that wrong. I meant the animal in question is the adjective. Brain fuzzy. Need sleep.

    October 30, 2008

  • Corpse makes me think of dadaists (as in exquisite corpse).

    Cadaver makes me think of formaldehyde and individuals who are gaunt, bony and emaciated (as in cadaverous).

    October 30, 2008

  • 'Click here to send "Incinerator Of Cadaveric Leftovers" Ringtone to your Cell Phone'.

    October 30, 2008

  • Sir Cadaveric, your phone is ringing.

    October 30, 2008

  • This is an exquisitely appropriate page for Halloween.

    October 30, 2008

  • I've always thought cadaver is such a lovely word to have such a ... non-lovely... meaning. Innit? Corpse is not such a nice word, though I like copse, precisely because it doesn't sound like such a nice thing, but it is.

    October 30, 2008

  • I decided to go with cadaver. It sounded nicer... even though the meaning for corpse was perhaps the better choice.

    To me, a cadaver is fresher. A corpse is moldy, buggy and too ripe.

    October 31, 2008

  • Great idea frogapplause, and it inspired a new open list: Word-offs.

    October 31, 2008

  • Great idea!

    October 31, 2008

  • Cadaver also has overtones of emaciation that corpse does not. And a carcass is not necessarily dead ("get your sorry carcass over here") or formerly living ("an abandoned carcass of an automobile").

    October 31, 2008

  • Lez play copse 'n robbers! :)

    November 1, 2008

  • I have an osteochondral lesion and a brevis tear in my right ankle. My orthopedic surgeon said that I'll probably need to replace a small area of my ankle with "cadaver bone". I was creeped out at first, but now I'm okay with the idea... as long as I'm assured that I won't be receiving "zombie bone".

    June 16, 2009