Hi, Anton!  Recently you wrote in a message to Dallas Hinton:

AS>  d.  I divulged to Jim everything I knew about...


           I like this alternative because... while I have no control over what
Jim does with any information I've divulged/revealed to him... I still have the
original copy in my brain, and I can refer to it again whenever I see fit.  :-)



AS>  (now that's more like dumping!)


           Hmm.  I see that, in an emergency, an aeroplane might discharge fuel
into the air... but where I come from "dumping" usually means somebody wants to
get rid of household garbage & where it lands is irrelevant from their POV.  We
have signs saying "NO DUMPING" adjacent to certain ravines around here....  :-Q



AS>  "drain" seems to imply a certain effort on the part
AS>  of the receiver


           Perhaps.  I've heard many sad stories about how Jane Bloggs falls in
love with a con artist who drains her bank account(s) or persuades her to do it
because he desperately needs a loan... just over the weekend, you understand...
while he's waiting for a cheque to arrive in the mail.  Next thing we know he's
disappeared along with her life savings... [wry grin].



AS>  (e.g. a vampyre),


           While I'd spell it "vampire", I enjoy archaic language too.  :-)



AS>  unless it verb is used in the narrow technical sense
AS>  of the operation of a drainage system.


           I see it as a metaphor which may be interpreted in various ways, but
I have difficulty with the idea that... except perhaps in science fiction... it
is possible to suck out of my brain what I know about xxx, leaving none for me.
OTOH I'm quite comfortable with e.g. "I realized [the neighbourhood gossip] was
trying to pump me for information" & "Anton, I'd like to pick your brains WRT a
point of grammar".  Both imply some effort on the part of the receiver....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+