Morwen ~~ Why, because Dickens was a man of his time ~ which is, after all, the subtext, if not the main text, of this thread. It was OK then...

These days we have gone to the other extreme. My wife gets distressed when football commentators will refer to players by their nationality: e.g. if Tevez does something spectacular, they might say, "That was a fine run by the Argentinian". I think that they only do it to introduce a bit of variety into the commentary, and that Emma is being a bit fastidious; but I think I see where she is coming from.

Regards

~Michael~