From: Wade Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Tue 17 Dec 2002 - 18:13:54 GMT
On Tuesday, December 17, 2002, at 11:33 AM, Grant Callaghan wrote:
> Furthermore, it causes people who come here to discuss memetics
> to miss interesting messages because they don't want to wade
> through the spam to get to them.
OK. Pet peeve. Well, sort of.
This poor word 'wade', which I am so close to.
Now, I know, it's common enough and in common enough usage,
although, mostly (MOSTLY!) _these days_ only to indicate
_walking in shallow water_, but, I do admit to cringing when I
see it, especially in these forums, as, well, I admit it, I take
it personally.
I know, my own problem, but, hell, we all got problems.
And, this one is fixed by substituting 'sift'.
It's even more apt. And I like apt.
- Wade
*****
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913):
3. To examine critically or minutely; to scrutinize.
Sifting the very utmost sentence and syllable.
--Hooker.
Opportunity I here have had
To try thee, sift thee.
--Milton.
Let him but narrowly sift his ideas. --I. Taylor.
To sift out, to search out with care, as if by sifting.
-----------------
From WordNet (r) 1.7:
sift
3: check and sort carefully; "sift the information" [syn: sieve]
4: distinguish and separate out; "sift through the job
candidates" [syn: sieve]
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