[Grammar] Sllip Jail

[WideLeft]

If a dog could slip its leash, could I write:

"An inmate slipped the jail cell."
"An inmate slipped jail."

?

 

[emsr2d2]

No. An inmate simply "escapes from" his cell. He might "slip out" through the bars, or through a cell door which was accidentally left open.

 

[WideLeft]

news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19620723&id=IBMrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fZwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4333,2537708

"6 German Prisoners Slip Jail, Pull Jobs"

So, it is wrong in this newspaper?

 

[BobK]

Yes and no. Newspapers - with their narrow column-width - tend to adopt and adapt short words: 'slip' rather than 'escape from', 'pull' rather than 'be accepted for' (if that's what it means in this context - ah no, on second thoughts it probably means 'commit crimes'*), 'probe', 'leak', 'quest', 'grill' (in the sense 'interrogate')... etc. etc. These words are understood in that context.

b

*This sort of ambiguity is the sort of thing that newspapers regard as a risk worth taking.