Talk:Westwood House

Authoress

Apologies for not bringing this to the talk page earlier, it escaped my attention that this had already been the subject of an edit war.

The term 'authoress' being used in this article is unnecessary and should be replaced by 'author'. I imagine that the term was employed because it is used in the 1890s sources that were used to create the article, but it is problematic because it can be interpreted as being disparaging, especially when gender is beside the point.

Here is what some sources have to say about the term:

• According to the Oxford English Dictionary, authoress is "now used only when sex is purposely emphasized; otherwise, ...author is now used of both sexes."
• World Book Dictionary labels the term authoress "archaic".
• Collins English Dictionary gives authoress the caveat "Now usually disparaging", also old-fashioned; derogatory
• Wiktionary deems authoress "dated"
• Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English says authoress is "old-fashioned"
• the WordReference English-French Dictionary calls authoress "dated"
• the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary calls authoress "old-fashioned"
• whereas Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary deems authoress to be only "somewhat old-fashioned"
• The Columbia Guide to Standard American English refers to authoress as "archaic or even obsolete"

Perhaps more concerning is the editing history here. I am grateful to PBS for starting this article, but troubled by a pattern of editing in violation of WP:OWN. Over a protracted period, I'm counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 reversions over the consensus of two other editors. I'm hoping that bringing this a noticeboard will be unnecessary. Gobōnobō ^{+ c} 20:27, 4 January 2014 (UTC)