Thanks, bluejay.
I've always thought of snakes as venomous, things ingested as poisons, but I'd never thought about it in a rigorous way across all species--so I'm probably guilty of using them interchangeably.
My wife is an English professor. I shared your post with her, and she was equally delighted to learn this clear distinction in usage.
Now you have recruited two enemies of your pet peeve, one an agent inside the educational complex.
I know there's a balance, I see it when I swing past.
-J. Mellencamp
Real things always push back.
-William James