I don't think anything works like ':' does --it has a divisor quality. So as long as a symbol is denotated with a prefix ':' there's the symptom of non-intuitiveness involved. So short of changing the symbol prefix --I was just playing with a space+period idea, in fact db.find( order: .date ) How does allowing db.find( order::date ) and deprecating ::'s previous meaning, work out? T.