birding-aus

Re; Escapers versus wild birds.

To:
Subject: Re; Escapers versus wild birds.
From: Susan Knowles <>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 09:59:29 +1000
As a librarian I can't let this go without comment. The Macquarie Dictionary is certainly not the best quality dictionary around, being based (I understand) on 2 American college dictionaries - nobody starts a dictionary these days from scratch.

Just look up the verb "destruct" and ask yourself how Australian is this.

Escapee is acceptable for one who has escaped just by virtue of usage. The Oxford dictionary gives this with the first example going back to 1875. Escaper is older but is not in current usage.

Susan Knowles


Well, seeing this is an Australian newsgroup, the Macquarie Dictionary is the bible.

Its definition of escapee is "n. one who has escaped, as from internment, imprisonment, etc". So feel free to continue to refer to birds that have escaped from captivity as escapees.

To be fair, the Maquarie also lists escaper as the noun of escape. For what it is worth, the latin basis for escape is ex cappa -> ex cloak.

Regards, Laurie.



On Saturday, August 2, 2003, at 06:08  PM, Paul Walbridge wrote:

Philip Veerman wrote;

By the way, the plural of escapee is escapees, DEFINATELY NOT escapee's (which only makes sense followed by a noun, to mean some property of the escapee). Also by usual grammar, one who escapes should be called an escaper (even if that word is not generally used). The escapee is the one to whom an escape occurs, that is the prior owner. If the bird is released, the bird is a releasee and the person releasing it is a releaser.


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