I disagree with the quibble about the term, as well as about the definition.
Since youth, I have heard the term "escape velocity" and am unaware of problems with it. Velocity is a vector, of course: the combination of speed and direction. We don't need to scold our readers if they use speed and velocity interchangeably.
Also, I'm not sure if an object traveling at this speed will always follow a parabola. It would depend on the direction with respect to the planet's center. Let's try to tighten this up. --Ed Poor Talk 10:50, 1 December 2009 (EST)