refugee, evacuee

[Joel S. Berson]

I note only that evacuate/evacuee rolls off my tongue more easily
than refuge-refugee (as verbs)/refugee (n) does.  (Apart from whether
or not the refug... verbs even have quite the desired sense.)


At 9/5/2005 09:37 AM, you wrote:
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject:      Re: refugee, IDP, evacuee
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Storms have been creating "refugees" for over 150 years now :
>
>1843 _North American Review_ (July) 75  The [ New England fishing ]
>vessels that kept their positions...escaped unharmed, under their
>storm-trimmed foresails, while the refugees were seen no more for four days.
>
>1888 _Harper's New Mo. Mag._ (Dec.) 87 Most of the arch and dorways
>were full of refugees from the storm.
>
>In a non-meteorological context :
>
>1899 _Century_ (July) 451 [In "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," Bret
>Harte] beguiled a party of refugees into the wilds of the Sierra Nevada.
>
>Cornell's _Making of America_ turned these up in no time.
>
>JL
>
>Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU> wrote:
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>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Alice Faber
>Organization: Haskins Laboratories
>Subject: Re: refugee, IDP, evacuee
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > OED gives "displaced person" as one of the recognized senses of
> "refugee." But surely exx. must be available before 1914 ?
> >
> > The word cranks, bless them, may have fallen prey to the
> etymological fallacy, however. The earliest OED sense (and maybe
> the definition was overly specific: worth a review, Jesse !)
> specifies "one who seeks refuge in a foreign country."
> >
> > The reason for that is that "refugee" in English was first
> applied to the French Huguenots.
> >
> > I stick by my opinion that anyone who would object stridently and
> publicly to the word "refugee" in the midst of a natural
> catastrophe is semi-educated.
> >
> > Or over-educated, as the case may be.
>
>Or sensitive to some connotations of the word that have nothing to do
>with its etymological history. I've seen enough statements now from
>people who think that use of the word "refugee" connotes "not-American",
>and I think that it's disrespectful, given how marginalized many of the
>folks who were most affected by the storm already feel.
>--
>==============================================================================
>Alice Faber faber at haskins.yale.edu
>Haskins Laboratories tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
>New Haven, CT 06511 USA fax (203) 865-8963
>
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