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I do hope that Robert Zaretsky¡¯s tribute to Simone Weil (¡°Wait ¨C and see¡±, Opinion, 29 March) will be read by organisers of academic conferences and other events. They should, then, abandon the term ¡°attendee¡± for those who go. They are, or should be, ¡°attenders¡±, in Weil¡¯s gloss of ¡°attendre¡±; attendees are waited upon, I assume, like Prince Charles having someone put the toothpaste on the brush. They are passively ¡°done to¡±, rather than doing ¨C which some may be, who sit passively, although they may listen attentively and soak in what is said, of course, ¡°waiting upon the truth¡±.

The ¡°ee¡± trend spreads contagiously to anything it can touch. What is an ¡°escapee¡±, for example, to differentiate from an ¡°escaper¡±?

Professee Ian McNay
University of Greenwich

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