Llangollen Railway

No I don't see and we are way off subject. I'll agree with you when I hear someone with a female dog say they are taking their bitch for a walk.

 

I know a female ombudsman.

 

I am sorry that nouns, gender and moving with the times are causing problems for you.

It is up to the subject as to what noun (personal pronoun or otherwise) they choose to use. Gender neutral language allows that space choose, and if someone wants to use the term signaller or signalman or signalwoman that is their choice, just as if they choose to use he/she/they and you don't have a say in the matter.

 

As a heritage railway signalman I have met many other heritage railway signalmen including several female ones and at least one transgender; but they all identified as - and were accepted and respected as - “signalmen”.


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There was nearly a riot at the K&ESR when it was suggested to our lady Signalmen that the position should become Signaller. Ditto with lady Firemen.

 

In our language we have different words for a position occupied by different genders - but in the modern way of thinking gender should be irrelevant and i agree that signalman is fine, signaller is wrong, signalperson is pathetic. So long as we old timers accept than it s not necessarily a man and it doesn't matter either way we are sorted.
Looking forward to the day when other languages which have masculine/feminine/neuter nouns sort themselves out along the same lines...
Ps whats the welsh for Signalman

 

Arwyddwr, apparently.
(Seven consecutive consonants).

 

If we are veering off on a tangent of gender neutral terms, the one I loathe is "batter" rather than batsman" in cricket.

 

I am told that in Latin there were two words, Homo meaning 'Man' in the sense of 'Human' and Vir, which was Man in terms of gender.

I worked in an office where when he came round we sent an 'all users' e-mail saying the sandwich man had arrived.

If I got to do it I sent one saying The Sandwich Person (of Gender) has arrived

 

In the Welsh language Y can be either a vowel or a consonant .

Bob.

 

That’s my usual selection with my luck at fishing for Scrabble letters, next time I’ll be on a winner if I can remember that.

 

And that is their choice, just as MellishR knows a female ombudsman. The important thing is to respect whatever noun that person chooses to use.

 

The issue on a railway is then the rule book, i.e. the duties of the signalman, fireman etc. You have to choose one term or another, and hypothetically if you decided to choose "signaller" as the term in the rule book, wouldn't you be just as likely to be insisting on a term that the majority of incumbents didn't like?

Tom

 

Probably but that is why there is management to take the blame for decisions like that. What terminology does the big railway use?

 

That would confuse Rachel Riley on Welsh Countdown .

 

When people see the Glyndyfrdwy station signs and comment that there are no vowels they can be told 'oh yes there are'.

Bob.

 

W is a vowel too.

 

My first welsh lesson Welcome to Sygwn coppermine... (Welcam to Suggin coppamine)...

 

If I may muddy the already cloudy waters a little.
We no longer appear to have actresses,they are all actors.
I find these attempts to homogenise the genders all rather sad,I imagine a lot of it originated in America.

 

Except when it comes to awards when even the most feminist of thespians seem happy to have two categories!