Do you use "pore over"?

Question

As in, I spent all night poring over those legal documents.

Or, do you use pore through?

Not to be confused with pour (some sugar).

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 28 '11 at 22:03

11

This Google Ngram shows that poring through is highly uncommon, whilst poring over is common. I have never heard poring through before, only poring over. Technically, both are correct, but poring over is more common.

answered Oct 28 '11 at 22:03

1

Wow, what a great resource. – B Seven Oct 28 '11 at 22:46
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Ngram? I recently discovered it via this site, haha. Useful indeed. – Oct 29 '11 at 04:47
Yes, Ngram...What is Ngram supposed to mean, anyway? – B Seven Oct 29 '11 at 05:27
6

It needs to be used with caution. It is based only on printed books. As David Crystal writes here http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2010/12/on-culturomics.html, 'We mustn't exaggerate the significance of this project. It is no more than a collection of scanned books - an impressive collection, unprecedented in its size, and capable of displaying innumerable interesting trends, but far away from entire cultural reality.' – Barrie England Oct 29 '11 at 06:04
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@BarrieEngland This is true. Still useful though. – Oct 29 '11 at 06:38
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@B Seven: N Gram – FumbleFingers Oct 29 '11 at 13:23
@BarrieEngland - Yes, especially considering that printed books are becoming less and less used while Internet and texting are growing rapidly. It would be interesting to see how much printed books, digital books, Internet and texting contribute to cultural reality over time. – B Seven May 23 '16 at 16:36

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 07 '12 at 03:31

0

Never. Though I heard a colleague last week say, "I'll pore over those documents tonight." I'm fairly confident he meant snore in place of pore though.

edited Jun 07 '12 at 03:31

answered Oct 31 '11 at 22:45

pully6

207

Do you use "pore over"?

2 Answers2