Waders or Shorebirds

["Stephen Ambrose" <>]

I've also found that members of the public are confused by the term "wader".
I've not experienced anything as bizarre as being called a member of a
"Waiters' Study Group" but I encountered organisers of a motor car racing
event a few years ago who thought that a "wader survey" was a survey of
people walking or bathing in shallow water. They didn't understand why I was
interested in studying peoples' public bathing habits!  After that incident
I started using the term "shorebird", because at least it contains the term
"bird" within it. 

Regards,
Stephen

Stephen Ambrose
Ryde NSW




-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Jill Dening
Sent: Friday, 21 June 2013 11:19 AM
To: Ian May
Cc: 
Subject: Waders or Shorebirds

Chris,

Many years ago I made a conscious decision to adopt the term, "shorebirds".
To me then they were "waders", but I made myself change.

Focussed as I am/was on shorebird education, I stand before audiences who
are not shorebird people. They are local government officers, developers and
the general public. The term "waders" caused confusion, and often needed
explanation, whereas "shorebirds" was immediately understood. And as I was
in the business of communicating, I adopted the term most easily understood
by my audiences. I didn't care, as long as I could gain their attention, and
not confuse them.

The day I was introduced to an audience as a member of the "Queensland
Waiters' Study Group", I knew there was a problem with the word "waders". I
had mentioned the group over the phone, and that was how it was interpreted,
and that's what I became.

Cheers,

Jill

Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

26° 51' 41"S    152° 56' 00"E



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