>IIRC a similar event in the 19th century electrocuted a bunch of telegraph operators.
According to the Wikipedia article, it only gave some electric shocks, not actually killed them.
According to the Wikipedia article, it only gave some electric shocks, not actually killed them.
I don't like being pedantic about language but given that the word is literally just a portmanteau of electricity and execution it's stupid to use it to refer to something other than death. It's not like execution can refer to someone being hurt. The only reason to use it to describe something nonlethal is because you don't realize that execution is part of the word.
Besides, "electrocuted" is a useful word and much less cumbersome than "killed via electrocution". We already have shock, arc, flash and burn for injuries and no other word to clarify lethality.
So I think that ship has sailed, whether you like it or not.
This is also a plea from an actual electrical engineer, because we generally use it to refer to death. It would be nice if everyone else did too because it's useful.
Electrocution means death by electricity and shock is damage by electricity up to but not including electrocution.
"So there I was at home and I cut through an electrical cable with some scissors."
"And you came to A&E because you got shocked?"
"Well I was shocked, yes. I didn't expect the cable to be live, there was a big bang and all the lights went off"
"OK you've had an electric shock?"
"No I was surprised, I was not electrocuted"
"So why are you here ..?"
(Paranoid partner made me go, though I was certain I was fine. Had some fluid taken from my spine; apparently electric shocks can cause "stuff to break down" and they were gonna use the fluid to confirm whether I'd been hit by electricity or not.)