Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 May 26

= May 26 =

"Let" or "Allowed"
Hi! Can anybody check the first, or one of the first sentences of George Beauchamp (RMS Titanic)? He was "let" or "allowed" by an officer to board a lifeboat?, I want it perfect as it is going to appear on main page's DYK soon. Thank you and best wishes. --LLcentury (talk) 11:51, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * They both work, but "let" is kind of colloquial, so I would go with "allowed". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:31, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * That might depend on your version of English. The meaning required here is to permit someone to proceed, and in British English at least that is "let" . There are other things wrong with the article's introduction, probably best dealt with on its talk page. Bazza (talk) 13:39, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Thank you so much. So, I am bit of confused, can anybody check the article (of course if you wish) if it goes in accordance with British English (the man was British), and what I need to correct? Thank you. Best wishes. --LLcentury (talk) 14:43, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Was he explicitly given permission, or did he simply board and no one stopped him? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:46, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your quick following of my query. According to Encyclopedia Titanica and other sources cited in the article he did intend to board lifeboat #13, but was unsure as women and children first but was let/allowed by officer William McMaster murdoch or James Paul Moody (he didn't remember who was in the British Titanic Inquiry) with the condition of handling an oar. --LLcentury (talk) 14:50, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * The E.T. reference states "He was ordered into lifeboat 13" - nothing about let or allowed. (You shouldn't be giving Google as your reference.) Bazza (talk) 14:56, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * That fixes it. It reminds me of this one: Should one say "I feel good" or "I feel well"? Answer: "I feel fine." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:28, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Perfect, so I was totally lost since English is not my native tongue. Correcting. Best wishes. --LLcentury (talk) 14:59, 26 May 2019 (UTC)

Non-binary & gender neutrality in various languages
I wonder about gender neutrality in other languages and how it's changing right now, especially in languages with grammatical gender, especially in Romance languages, especially as it relates to non-binary people. There's not many inter-wiki links between different language wikipedias, the only one I could find was the French 'they singulier,' where they're apparently borrowed the English 'they.' I assume that Enbies take the grammatical neuter when possible; do they ever take the equivalent of 'it?' I presume not but who knows? Temerarius (talk) 18:24, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Here's one description of how some Russians have tried to overcome the difficulties: "Lost for Words: Non-Binary Russians Fight the Limits of Their Language". Lesgles (talk) 18:47, 26 May 2019 (UTC)


 * Somewhat the same question previously asked at Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 February 13... AnonMoos (talk) 19:01, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * And by the same user. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:26, 26 May 2019 (UTC)