> To be technical, BTW, acids are not caustic in proper usage.  Try corrosive.

Chemists may restrict "caustic" to alkaline substances, but the original Greek "kaustikos" means to burn. Caustic = able to burn or corrode organic tissue by chemical action.

What about cauterize, which comes from the same root? Frequently this refers to heat, but there are chemical methods of cauterization such as silver nitrate or liquid nitrogen.

But hey, we are not all chemists! By the way, what is the pH of a "caustic remark"? 

PLB

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