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trodden

perpend

Banned
American English
I washed down the stairs since they have been trodden with snow and grit from the weather.

Am I making this up, or is "trodden" okay? What say Americans?

Context/source: Me, and 3-story brick building. 👁 Smile :)
"Trod", "treaded" and "trodden" are alternate past participles of "tread" but the level of elision is a bit mind boggling for me (have been trodden by people with shoes carrying snow and grit). Weather doesn't directly cause grit either.
(Also compare "I washed down the stairs" to "I washed down the river" - that's an interesting image. 👁 Smile :)
And does "since" mean "because" or "after" here?)
The road is dirty because it has been driven with brake dust. 👁 Confused :confused:
Trodden makes sense, but sounds a bit weird.

Foot traffic has deposited snow and grit.
We tracked dirt and mud into the house.

(I think "tracked" is more usually the term.)

I tracked grit and salt into the house because of the snow (thank God for housekeepers).
Hmmm .... see what you guys mean. Sometimes we use "weather" like that 'round about these parts.

Also, "to wash something down" is totally in my Midwestern wheelhouse.

The text is not looking for a Pulitzer.

So, I'm plus/minus nothing at this point, but thanks both Myridon and Packard!

Anyamericans else? ;-)
Maybe, but (1) it's no more "hifalutin" than trodden, surely? And (2) I adore be-prefixed words, and I think English needs more of them (or needs to more often use the ones it has). How about besmirched? Or - now here's a great one - befouled? 👁 Wink ;)


But seriously (although I do kind of like besmirched...), how about stained?
The problem I am having with the sentence is that snow doesn't actually stain anything, right? It's just water. So it's all the stuff that came with the snow - the grit, the mud, the dead leaves, the salt, the miscellaneous and somewhat mysterious greasy bits that one always seems to find everywhere after a big snow - that cause the problem.
The problem I am having with the sentence is that snow doesn't actually stain anything, right? It's just water.
Having actual clumps of still frozen snow on your steps would be a hazard though.
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