Clever question.
To answer this question we will open the dictionary to page “W” and find “wet”:
“covered or saturated with water or another liquid”.
So “wet” is a characteristic of water… water itself is wet and this is where the word comes from. Its like saying… prove that wood is wooden, or air is airy. Water is wet because its the word we use to describe water. Water is 100% water and is therefore wet.
Ahh, but if the definition of wet is “covered or saturated with water” does water itself qualify?. I think wet is the word to describe an object once water has had an effect on it. It’s different to asking if wood is wooden, it’s more like asking if paint is painted.
I was having this discussion with someone earlier actually… thanks to you 🙂
Yes… wet would be the effect of water on covering something. So, water has a surface tension which means that it can cling to a surface, making it wet. Can we say that water clings to itself, making itself wet? We know that water forms a droplet, because of surface tension… so does it wet itself? Maybe… I still lean in this direction: Wet is a characteristic of water. We called water wet a long time before we knew anything about water tension. This is my opinion of course… great thinking and reasoning Peter!!
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Peter Peterson commented on :
Ahh, but if the definition of wet is “covered or saturated with water” does water itself qualify?. I think wet is the word to describe an object once water has had an effect on it. It’s different to asking if wood is wooden, it’s more like asking if paint is painted.
Jacque commented on :
I was having this discussion with someone earlier actually… thanks to you 🙂
Yes… wet would be the effect of water on covering something. So, water has a surface tension which means that it can cling to a surface, making it wet. Can we say that water clings to itself, making itself wet? We know that water forms a droplet, because of surface tension… so does it wet itself? Maybe… I still lean in this direction: Wet is a characteristic of water. We called water wet a long time before we knew anything about water tension. This is my opinion of course… great thinking and reasoning Peter!!