• Question: i was recently debating this topic with my mum and we have opposite opinions. say there is a recently deceased human body. it twitches due to a muscle spasm. do you still during that time call that body inanimate when it quite clearly moved?

    Asked by dobby to Gemma on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Gemma Sharp

      Gemma Sharp answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Haha, this is a brilliant question! Thanks

      Well, I guess this all comes down to the definition of the word ‘inanimate’, and according to the dictionary there are two definitions, which mean slightly different things:

      1) Not being, and never having been alive
      2) Lacking the quality or ability of motion

      So the first definition is out, because the body is recently deceased, so although it’s not alive now, it has been.
      The second definition is also out because the body IS moving slightly, so it’s not ‘lacking the quality of movement’.

      So I guess by that logic, a recently deceased twitching body can’t be described as inanimate.

      So who was right? You or your mum?

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