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I did a search: Google returned 12,500 hits for "The Signal-Man" Dickens I then tried: "The Signalman" Dickens and got 21,000 hits. So, by popular opinion, the title should have "Signalman" as one word, not two. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.82.16.50 ( talk • contribs) 18:40, 18 April 2006
From the article - "who would today be referred to as a signalman" (emphasis added). Today (that is, 2008 rather than (say) 1980), the person in question would be referred to as a "signaller", thanks to the irresistable march of Political Correctness - I would suggest that we either change "signalman" to "signaller" (but alias the link, as Signaller is about the military position), or change "today" to something like "in the twentieth century". 78.105.161.182 ( talk) 14:40, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
Must disagree about the section on the Staplehurst crash as a possible basis for the story. This section seems to be written in a perfectly appropriate style. The only question is whether non-factual reporting of this kind is suitable for an encyclopedic entry. If not, then the section should simply be deleted. I can’t see that a stylistic re-draft would change anything.
To me, it seems highly likely that Dickens’ harrowing experience at Staplehurst would have put this theme in mind as a topic for ghost-fiction. It is on the same level as unprovable but long-held theories about some of his female characters being based on his mistress Ellen Ternan, or his beloved sister-in-law who died young and is assumed to have inspired Little Nell. These theories are freely aired on Wikipedia. Valetude ( talk) 16:14, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I did a search: Google returned 12,500 hits for "The Signal-Man" Dickens I then tried: "The Signalman" Dickens and got 21,000 hits. So, by popular opinion, the title should have "Signalman" as one word, not two. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.82.16.50 ( talk • contribs) 18:40, 18 April 2006
From the article - "who would today be referred to as a signalman" (emphasis added). Today (that is, 2008 rather than (say) 1980), the person in question would be referred to as a "signaller", thanks to the irresistable march of Political Correctness - I would suggest that we either change "signalman" to "signaller" (but alias the link, as Signaller is about the military position), or change "today" to something like "in the twentieth century". 78.105.161.182 ( talk) 14:40, 17 August 2008 (UTC)
Must disagree about the section on the Staplehurst crash as a possible basis for the story. This section seems to be written in a perfectly appropriate style. The only question is whether non-factual reporting of this kind is suitable for an encyclopedic entry. If not, then the section should simply be deleted. I can’t see that a stylistic re-draft would change anything.
To me, it seems highly likely that Dickens’ harrowing experience at Staplehurst would have put this theme in mind as a topic for ghost-fiction. It is on the same level as unprovable but long-held theories about some of his female characters being based on his mistress Ellen Ternan, or his beloved sister-in-law who died young and is assumed to have inspired Little Nell. These theories are freely aired on Wikipedia. Valetude ( talk) 16:14, 25 April 2015 (UTC)