The problem at hand wasn't mine, so I shall not be able to speak much either.
But imagine
if it were a 1000 words in a list, and a String of 1000 words in consideration, how would the compiler go about implementing the two approaches?
On grounds of readability, certainly yes, your approach would be far better than regex...
the only point of moot maybe "will there be a objectionable memory overhead? and if yes, is it worth the trade off?"
i think the questions will be best answered by those who dirty their hands in such stuff. I can't keep my hands clean here and provide answers!
[ October 24, 2005: Message edited by: Akshay Kiran ]