[Vocabulary] What would you call someone who creates flood?

[lachdanan]

Hi,

You know you call someone who sets fire to buildings, wildland areas and vehicles, an arsonist. What would you call someone who creates flood in buildings, wildland areas, etc?

Flooder doesn't seem like a word.

Also can you call arsonist firestarter if it wasn't a crime?


Thanks

 

[SoothingDave]

How do you create a flood in a wild area? I have never heard of anyone deliberately doing such a thing.

"Flooder" would be the word if you really needed one.

 

[probus]

We don't have a word like flooder, presumably because while it is easy to cause a fire, it is much more difficult to create a flood.

An arsonist is indisputably a firestarter. Whether or not that action constitutes a crime is a legal matter, not relevant to the meaning of the word.

 

[5jj]

Arson is, by definition, a crime.

 

[lachdanan]

Thanks guys, why don't they just say firestarter though? Especially arson is not very clear if you don't know the word, but most non-native speakers would understand firestarter IMO.

As for how to create a flood in a wild area, I was thinking, you could damage a dam nearby if it's present Kind of like in the movie Evan Almighty where the dam breaks and causes a flood.

 

[5jj]

Thanks guys, why don't they just say firestarter though?

Because the word is 'arsonist'.

Especially as arson is not very clear if you don't know the word, but most non-native speakers would understand firestarter IMO.

I'm afraid we don't think of non-native speakers when we speak our own language.

 

[lachdanan]

Actually you are right. Then my question is where would you use firestarter instead of arsonist or are both acceptable? Because to me not being a native speaker, firestarter sounds like it's not illegal but arsonist is.

 

[5jj]

We do not normally use 'firestarter' for people who start fires.

 

[lachdanan]

Thanks 5jj. If anyone has more opinions, please feel free.

Btw I thanked everyone but the forum seems to keep erasing them just so you know

 

[5jj]

We are having a problem with 'Thanks' at the moment. We hope it will be fixed soon.

 

[lachdanan]

Thanks man I thought it was me and I didn't want to look ungrateful

 

[Rover_KE]

...just so you know. [STRIKE][/STRIKE]

...I didn't want to look ungrateful​. [STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Please don't use in place of a full stop. If you want to insert a smiley, click on the icon.

 

[emsr2d2]

You wanted another opinion. Mine is the same as 5jj's. We simply use the word "arsonist" for someone who purposely starts fires and "arson" is a crime. I have a friend who is very good at building fires in a fireplace but she's just "good at building/starting fires", she's not an arsonist!

And as 5jj said, languages don't evolve taking into account the needs of non-native speakers. If that was the case, we would all find it much easier to understand other languages.

 

[Rover_KE]

Besides 'arsonist', you'll see 'firebug' and 'pyromaniac' rather then 'firestarter', which sounds more like a 'firelighter' — a chemical product used for lighting fires rapidly.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

As far as I know, a firestarter is AmE for what we in BrE call a firelighter, i.e. some flammable substance used to help start a fire.

I have only come across the use of "firestarter" as a person who starts fires in popular fiction and film.

 

[SoothingDave]

"Firestarter" was a movie about a little girl who could set things on fire with her mind. Pyrokinesis.

That's the only context in which I have seen it used.

I imagine there may be (or have been) a job title "firestarter."

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

It was a novel by Stephen King which was subsequently turned into a film.

 

[lachdanan]

Thanks guys, that makes more sense now. I was stating as a job like how some people create fires for film, etc. Although now it's all digital pretty much, I thought it would still be interesting to know what it would be called. Because in this industry, I never heard someone being called "pyro guy", etc for creating digital fires, because no one really does one thing like that.

But it's a cheeky comment to tell people sometimes for fun. That you are "an arsonist", firestarter, or "flooder" now I guess. Or destroyer of worlds, etc

Btw I thought would turn into smiley automatically, as it happens on some other forums.

 

[emsr2d2]

The smilies do not convert as you now know. We can only create them by using the icon on the toolbar.

 

[Rover_KE]

Btw I thought would turn into smiley automatically, as it happens on some other forums.

Even so, both of your sentences I picked out in post #12 should have ended with full stops.