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Sun 22 Jun, 2008 03:31 am
A waterspout is touching down down in the ocean. Ships are fleeing the area.
Is 'fleeing' correctly used?
Many thanks.
Strictly speaking, the crews of the ships are fleeing the area. Live creatures flee, and ships are lifeless objects.
I would say no. I think to flee/fly/take flight, you've got to use your legs, if that's not too Irish.
Re: Ships fleeing.
tanguatlay wrote:A waterspout is touching [down] down in the ocean. Ships are fleeing the area.
Is 'fleeing' correctly used?
Many thanks.
While larger ships may seem incapable of "fleeing", overall, the sentence with 'flee' conveys the meaning just fine.
Ships may flee as they well please. The sentence is correct.
I can't always be here for you people. I have moon-conspiracy meetings to attend.
Okat just ignore me then, why don't you.
I think to use the word "flee" here is too loose. Populations flee. People flee. Ships don't.
Yeah, but people are manning the ship and you can flee in any kind of contraption.
People fled in ships? No, they sailed away. Too loose.
McTAg, what word would you use instead of fleeing?
I think the word "flee" is to imply the urgency, like you might you "slipped away" to imply sneaking off.
McT, don't make me come over there and whack you one.
... that provides the same sense of urgency as 'fleeing'? ...
He's wrong, he's wrong, he's wrong. Two Cdn women have just said so.
Leaving. If you need to indicate a note of urgency, I suggest it should be done by other means.
I recognise of course, that it would be quite normal to hear "fleeing" used in in this context in say, a news item, but that doesn't make it correct.
I refuse to lower my standards when talking to Americans. Canadians should know better.
:wink:
Uh oh... now you KNOW JTT will be here in a moment and read you a lecture, McT...
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