Man has two senses, both of which go back to the very earliest uses of the word in OE.
- The human species or, when used with a determiner, a member of that species.
- An adult human male.
The species sense appears to be etymologically older; but the secondary sense of 'adult male' has by now become primary. OED 1 writes:
b. In the surviving use, the sense ‘person’ occurs only in general or indefinite applications (e.g. with adjs. Like every, any, no, and often in the plural, esp. with all, any, some, many few, etc.); in modern apprehension man as thus used primarily denotes the male sex, though by implication referring also to women.
The gradual development of the use of the unambiguous synonyms body, person, one, and (for the plural) folk(s), people, has greatly narrowed the currency of man in this sense; it is now literary and proverbial rather than colloquial.
Since OED wrote this, the success of the women's movement since the 1970s has tended to marginalize the human sense of the term even farther.
Nonetheless, in ordinary speech man is still inherently ambiguous. Consequently, except for those “literary and proverbial” situations OED mentions, we tend to avoid man altogether, employing male instead when we are trying to express what is proper to the male as opposed to the female sex.
Note, too, that even if that were not the case, man would not be an appropriate modifier for reproductive system or a baldness pattern, since these are characteristic of all males, not merely adult males.
Context is everything. When you are in doubt whether to use male or man, look at what terms you are contrasting with, whether implicitly or explicitly.
If you are contrasting humans with nonhumans, man is appropriate: “It’s not a fit night out for man or beast”.
If you are contrasting adult male humans with sub-adult male humans, man is again appropriate: “He is a man now, no longer a boy.”
But if you are contrasting male humans with female humans, male is appropriate: male strippers, nurses and college students are distinguished from the female strippers, nurses and college students who constitute (in the US, at least) the majority in those occupations.
In the first example, "number X" is modifying the subject "order" as part of a series. The "1" and "2" represent the place in the series:
I need RMAs for orders number 1 and number 2 (out of 5).
I need RMAs for orders 1 and 2.
I need RMAs for orders number 1 (ID# 56789) and number 2 (ID#56790).
Making "numbers" plural instead indicates that "order numbers" is the complete, more descriptive subject, similar to "tracking numbers" or "inventory numbers." That ties it directly to that item, no matter how many orders there are or in what sequence. This makes more sense if for example you provide a complete tracking number:
I need RMAs for order numbers 1234-XYZ-0987 and 1234-ABC-7890.
Of course this could also be shortened to just use "orders," which in that case is the complete subject & needs to be plural.
I need RMAs for orders 1234-XYZ-0987 and 1234-ABC-7890.
Best Answer
Why use "reds and oranges"?
Plural colors refer to shades rather than a single color.
See: Reds and Oranges.
If so, why not "blacks and whites"?
"Black and White" is a set phrase in this context.
Also, it can be confusing.