Wikipedia is not a usage guide! --LMS
But it is an encyclopedia, and mention of "singular they" is relevant to the discussion of English language, and in particular English grammar -- I'm not saying "use the singular they" or "don't use the singular they", I'm just noting it is a phenomena of (at least some people's) English grammar. --
Simon J Kissane
I'm not convinced. You are talking about English usage. There is a lot of encyclopedic information you can give about English usage. The issue about "singular they" is one that belongs (is always treated) in an English language usage guide. --LMS
No, I'm not talking about English usage, at least as I understand it. English usage is prescriptive, "how you should write/speak", while all I'm trying to do is descriptive "how people do in fact write/speak". And it's not just an issue like affect vs. effect -- it can be related to issues such as gender-related language, and also it deals with a rather fundamental part of a language (its grammar, its pronouns). Are you saying that the features of the English language are somehow off-limits for an encyclopedia? I don't think so, especially since its not like we have any space limits here. --
Simon J Kissane
If you'll look at your Fowler, you'll see that very often his guide is prescriptive, but just as often it's descriptive, and a lot of time there is blurring between the two. So, yes, I am absolutely insisting that descriptions of English language usage are off-limits for Wikipedia--except when the issues impinge more or less directly on some issue of interest outside language. (That happens a lot, for example, in philosophy.) --LMS
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