[fw-mvc] replace $this->escape() with $this->esc()

I'm new to ZF and to some of the concepts of OO type systems in general, though I've used PHP for quite some time.  So, my apologies if this is really basic, but how can I efficiently create a replacement for $this->escape() that would still use all of the settings (like SetEscape(), etc) but be named $this->e() or $this->esc(), just for cleaner view files (with the caveat that $this->e() isn't as immediately understandable as $this->escape()).

Do I need to extend Zend_View and change how the whole MVC system works or is there some other way?

Not a hugely important thing, but it keeps occurring to me to ask.

TIA,
Hans