$.ajax.error,jquery Ajax $.ajaxError

I have a bunch of ajax calls that contain success and error conditions like this one:

$.ajax({

url: 'Remote/State.cfc'

,type: "POST"

,data: {

'method': 'UpdateStateName'

,'StateID': StateID

,'StateName': StateName

}

,success: function(result){

if (isNaN(result)) {

$('#msg').text(result).addClass('err');

} else {

$('#' + result + ' input[name="StateName"]').addClass('changed');

};

}

,error: function(msg){

$('#msg').text('Connection error').addClass('err');

}

});

All the error conditions are the same. In other words, they all put the phrase "Connection error" in the msg id.

Q1: Could I remove all these and replace them with

$().ajaxError(function(myEvent, request, settings, thrownError) {

$('#msg').text('Connection error').addClass('err');

});

Q2: How would you use myEvent and request to display a more informative error message?