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Should not the word meaning those attending a meeting be 'attenders' instead of 'attendees'? If I'm right, how has this error come to be so widely repeated?

• I don't mind being a standee. Who's standing the drinks?

  Quentin Langley, Woking

• Those in the act or condition of attending are "attendants". This would probably not please persons attending a high-level conference who might feel that attendants were there to serve them.

  John, Sydney

• I think that John is right in thinking that refugee may be the model in many people's minds for attendee, but refugee is a perfectly correct usage. A refugee is one to whom refuge is given. A retiree is not one to whom a retire (or even a retirement) is given, nor an attendee one to whom an attend is given.

  William Dunlap, Hamden, Connecticut, USA

• To attend can mean to look after, or give care to (e.g. paramedics attend at the scene of an accident). This is the virtual opposite of the most common meaning these days, as exemplified in attend a conference. By this meaning the "attender" is the paramedic / presenter / whatever.

  Phil, London