Talk:He never married

I suspect the article's original research. See the AFD for more, but I'll copypaste ,y basic argument from there:

The 3/4 references used only mention the claim in passing, while the remaining one (the 3rd one) states that it was used as such IN SOME CASES. Something the article doesn't mention

Most importantly, I am not a native speaker, but from what I know the first thing that comes to mind when u hear the phrase "He never married" is that the person in question has - you guessed it - never married.

Why does an article about this phrase exist is an open question, but what's even more interesting is why this article claims that this phrase was used - apparently solely - as a way to refer to closeted homosexuals - without refering to sources that make that claim.

I would think that the phrase referred simply to the literal fact that the deceased never married. If homosexuality was inferred, whether at the time or subsequently, it was more probably from the fact than from the phrase. Koro Neil (talk) 04:02, 3 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

Openlydialectic (talk) 06:34, 15 September 2018 (UTC)Reply

The mention of the lack of something is rather odd. If I read the obituary of someone who had never married, I would be surprised to see that fact called out. The very mention of it calls attention to it in such a way as to make the reader ask "So what? Then why mention it?" --Khajidha (talk) 13:26, 12 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Nothing odd about its being used in obituaries 50 and more years ago. It was common to say that someone was survived by their spouse and/or children (generally with names). Where there was no such surviving family, it was quite normal to mention that the person never married. Koro Neil (talk) 04:02, 3 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

One would rather more expect to simply say that they were not succeeded by anyone (or if applicable, who they were succeeded by, and predeceased by respectively), that would itself provide detail as to marriage or lack thereof.

At least in British English it is a rather odd phrase to put in an obituary, and while I cannot comment with certainty on the frequency of it's use as a euphemism (though I am anecdotally aware of it as 'one of the most common euphemisms for being homosexual'), it is definitely odd phrasing.

I'm waiting on getting access to it, but chapter 3 of "On the Offensive Prejudice in Language Past and Present" by Karen Stollznow for the Cambridge University Press seems to possibly mention this euphamism being used. 94.13.35.21 (talk) 15:46, 6 April 2021 (UTC)Reply

In My Fair Lady, by Lerner and Loewe, Henry Higgins makes the comment, "So here I am, Pickering—a confirmed old bachelor, and likely to remain so." This musical was first performed, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews in 1956, well pre-dating Private Eye. I certainly remember the phrase confirmed bachelor from my childhood in the 1950s and early 60s, though it was a term you were likelier to meet in British sources than hear used in New Zealand where I live. There is no suggestion in the story that Higgins was homosexual, though that doesn't preclude its being used that way elsewhere. Koro Neil (talk) 03:47, 3 November 2018 (UTC)Reply