this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts

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If wetness is the property of having water on something, what is the property of something in water? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by rockSlayer@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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I'm firmly on the side of "water is not wet" in this debate, but it's a question that I was asked while I was high and have no answer to it. Water cannot itself be wet because you can't get water on water. However, what is a fish in a lake? It can't be wet until it's taken out of the water, but it's not dry either. Is it something else?

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[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Water itself cannot be wet, because wetness is a property applied to something that has gotten water on it. Water can neither be wet or dry, because those properties require the presence (or lack thereof) of water on something that itself is not water. When swimming, you don't feel wet until you're no longer in the water. That's because there is an equal amount of water to skin on your body; (thanks to others for helping me) you're immersed in water. Describing water as wet is like describing oil as "covered in oil".