Talk:tread carefully
The following information passed a request for deletion (permalink).
This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.
While I think its synonym tread lightly may be (weakly) entryworthy, this strikes me as being too SOP; compare tread gently, tread warily, tread cautiously. I've added a sense (sense 3) to tread. Delete or redirect. PUC – 13:26, 17 January 2021 (UTC)
- IMO, idiomaticity is evident so long as it's used to denote precaution in general, not only that exercised while literally walking. However, it would be reasonable to only include the top frequent variants and maybe redirect the rest. I can see here that tread carefully is the most frequent, followed by tread lightly, tread softly, and then tread warily, with all having quotations for the figurative sense of their own. Assem Khidhr (talk) 20:25, 17 January 2021 (UTC)
- The figurative sense of tread is idiomatic, but is this not adequately handled by tread, sense 3: “(figuratively, with certain adverbs of manner) To proceed, to behave (in a certain manner)”? The adverb can also be carelessly,[1][2], imprudently,[3] or heavily.[4] --Lambiam 14:05, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
- @Lambiam: In this case I'd say tread lightly and tread softly (which also happens to be a plant name) in particular are worthy of standalone entries, since their adverbs are a continuation of the walking metaphor. And for the sake of satisfying most queries, other forms with literal adverbs should be redirected to tread, ideally with a senseid. I can proceed in this if you're good with it. Assem Khidhr (talk) 22:55, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
- According to Wikipedia, tread softly is even a common name for three species: Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, Cnidoscolus stimulosus, and Solanum carolinense. I have no strong opinion, but I hold it for possible that the figurative sense “to proceed, to behave (in a certain manner)” for tread is a generalization of an older figurative uses of tread lightly, which dates from 1798 or before,[5] and tread softly, found in a play published in 1633.[6] --Lambiam 01:58, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
- @Lambiam: In this case I'd say tread lightly and tread softly (which also happens to be a plant name) in particular are worthy of standalone entries, since their adverbs are a continuation of the walking metaphor. And for the sake of satisfying most queries, other forms with literal adverbs should be redirected to tread, ideally with a senseid. I can proceed in this if you're good with it. Assem Khidhr (talk) 22:55, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
- The figurative sense of tread is idiomatic, but is this not adequately handled by tread, sense 3: “(figuratively, with certain adverbs of manner) To proceed, to behave (in a certain manner)”? The adverb can also be carelessly,[1][2], imprudently,[3] or heavily.[4] --Lambiam 14:05, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
- Delete tread carefully as SoP, although I'm surprised it's more common than lightly. DAVilla 02:09, 8 May 2021 (UTC)
- Strikes me as a bit weird to keep other similarly (un)idiomatic ones while deleting this one. Just make it a soft-redirect. — Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 19:55, 15 January 2022 (UTC)
Keep as idiomatic. It doesn’t matter if there are a few variations - they’re just synonyms, and you cannot ascribe the meaning to the word “tread” in isolation without warping it beyond general understanding. Theknightwho (talk) 16:24, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
- Agreed, keep. Imetsia (talk) 20:53, 3 February 2022 (UTC)
- Keep idiomatic sense. --Rishabhbhat (talk) 16:35, 12 February 2022 (UTC)
No consensus to delete. bd2412 T 03:55, 27 April 2022 (UTC)