04-11-2017, 11:54 AM
I'm uncertain on the origin of English language useage of "she" when referring to (usually) mechanical stuff, but I think it goes way back:
"With a good wind behind 'er, she'll do 20 knots." or "She's in rough shape now, but she's been a dependable car for sure."
My Canadian dictionary offers one definition of "she" as "a thing regarded as female, e.g. a vehicle or ship.", so it's ingrained in the language, as my examples were given before I looked it up.
I'd also assumed that this useage would be relatively common throughout most languages, too, but of course, many, like German or French, do ascribe a sex to various nouns, either through variations in spelling of the same word or through the use of different articles. Most inanimate objects in German, I think, do have the genderless "das" in addition to the masculine "der" and feminine "die", as in "das Boot" (the boat).
Perhaps it's simply a foible of English....my car is a "she", but I don't go so far as to name stuff like that, although many do.
Wayne
"With a good wind behind 'er, she'll do 20 knots." or "She's in rough shape now, but she's been a dependable car for sure."
My Canadian dictionary offers one definition of "she" as "a thing regarded as female, e.g. a vehicle or ship.", so it's ingrained in the language, as my examples were given before I looked it up.
I'd also assumed that this useage would be relatively common throughout most languages, too, but of course, many, like German or French, do ascribe a sex to various nouns, either through variations in spelling of the same word or through the use of different articles. Most inanimate objects in German, I think, do have the genderless "das" in addition to the masculine "der" and feminine "die", as in "das Boot" (the boat).
Perhaps it's simply a foible of English....my car is a "she", but I don't go so far as to name stuff like that, although many do.
Wayne