Date:         Tue, 15 Aug 2000 07:30:56 -0400
Reply-To:     "Marion M. Dobbs" <marion@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Marion M. Dobbs" <marion@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      Re: 'Escape' vs. 'Escapee'
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

And if I had not previously been an admirer (a fanee?) of Joel's scathing
wit, I'd certainly now be a convertee.

Marion M. Dobbs
Rome  GA
marion@mindspring.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel Hitt" <joel@HITT.COM>
To: <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2000 12:31 AM
Subject: [GABO-L] 'Escape' vs. 'Escapee'


> In response to Bob Mann's recent observation:
>
>  >You stated:
>
>  >Gabbers: Neat little history from Giff Beaton on the life and times of
the
>  >black-billied whistling duck in North America. The Earl Horn bird at
E.L.
>  >Huie in June of '98 indeed presented a startling picture due to the
strength
>  >of the species' colors. No one looks for a duck of those hues unless one
>  >creeps into backwater areas for woodies.
>
>  >But I hope that scientists in general don't find it necessary to take
>  >another uninformed incursion into English grammar and try to make a verb
>  >nominative. The proper noun is escapee, escaping imposition and
unnecessary
>  >confusion.
>
> <sarcasm on>
>
> Bob's point is well-taken. It would appear that I've been a deviatee from
> this rule, perhaps to the point of being a grammatical degeneratee. Now,
> however, I am an informed initiatee to the error of my ways.
>
> <sarcasm off> :)
>
> Actually, ornithology authors are divided on this one. But I've always
> stayed with "escape" for the noun, and enjoy the company of R. T.
Peterson,
> Kenn Kaufman, et al. in so doing. I believe this use crept into our field
> from the botanical world, where "escape" has always referred to a plant
> moving from garden cultivation to propagation in the wild.
>
> Joel