a q from my other half,why is a country,ship and plane refered to as being female ?,its for her kids at school so simple answers please

I can't speak for a plane or ship but some countries are referred to as "the Fatherland"

I'm curious to see what others come up with as I'd never even thought of this

I know in a lot of other languages nouns are feminine/masculine or neutral. Perhaps a carry over?

I always thought it was because ships and aircraft are typically thought of to be driven by men. My dad always did it with his hgv's at work, they were always 'she'.

'Cos they're bl**dy expensive!!

They take all your money and you get nothing in return

quote:

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Originally posted by Daddylonglegs
'Cos they're bl**dy expensive!!

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Googling suggests that nobody really knows. He could say that ships and planes are generally considered ( by men ) to be beautiful. Or he could say that ships are considered female because they can have dozens, even hundreds of men on them.
In the end it may come back to the mother idea.

Yeah could be a country thing and their attitude toward them. I mean we could see a ship as a thing of beauty (hence female) whereas in Russia a ship is a thing that shifts stuff (hence male or neutral) for example

Aeroplanes may be female but many have a Joystick and it wasn't named after a Mr Joy --- blame Great War Pilots for that one.

According to the radio a while back its because females can carry another person I.e when pregnant. So ships, cars, planes can carry people So are often referred to as females.

ATB Agriv8

My immediate thought was language and word gender from our roots of vocab but not sure after typing this.

Maybe its just that men use them so why not call the women's names?

All tempremental

It's just a daft cultural thing- I know of no 'reason' for it!

In the UK we tend to refer to rivers as male- but in Europe they tend to be female. No decent reason for it, it's just cultural!

Cheers,
James

Thanks for all the replies,i will pass them on ,i thought it was the carrying /womb thing,hopefully the kids will get it

I wouldn't go with the linguistics thing - French is most likely source and most French words for ships etc - bateau, vaisseau, batiment, paquebot, navire, remorqueur, yacht - are all masculine. Only schooner - Goelette - is feminine.

I agree with James, there is no 'reason'.
Some people call cars him, her or it.
Applying a reason to it is nonsense in my opinion.
Infact its probably more to do with numbers and how the question is asked.

'why do most people call their cars 'her'?' implies its fact and then asks you to come up with reasons why.

How about this....

Take a pole of 100 people. Ask what gender they assign to their car. Then ask if there is any reason for this.
Then take the results and see if there is any correlation.
But still note that this does not imply any more fact to the statement, its just a result from 100 people.

I'm sure you have all heard at some time in your life 'don't buy a kit car as they always break down'. Now this is along similar lines. It could be assumed as fact and then we could make assumptions as to why. But in reality we know that its not true for all cases. Infact, probably not even true for the majority. But the way the original statement is made implies it is true.

http://www.boatsafe.com/kids/kidsquesshe.htm


"..............................According to Yarns of the Sea, Legends, Myths, and Superstitions: Although women were considered to bring bad luck at sea, mariners always use the pronoun "she" when referring to their ships. Whether its proper name is masculine, or whether it is a man o'war, a battleship, or a nuclear submarine, a ship is always referred to as "she."

This old tradition is thought to stem from the fact that in the Romance languages, the word for "ship" is always in the feminine. For this reason, Mediterranean sailors always referred to their ship as "she", and the practice was adopted over the centuries by their English-speaking counterparts.

One source suggests that a ship "was nearer and dearer to the sailor than anyone except his mother." What better reason to call his ship "she"?............"

thanks again for the replies,i think Litemoth get the cigar on this one
Jo and her class all send their thanks

[Edited on 7/5/13 by theconrodkid]

Prince Henry said of his ships, that like a women they take a lot of paint and powder to keep them looking good.