female love

@konzen (271)
Philippines
January 12, 2007 9:39pm CST
Why does cars, ships, and the earth often referred to as a SHE and why not a HE?
3 responses
13 Jan 07
It's not very interesting, I'm afraid, but many European languages are based on Latin (the language of the Roman Empire), and everything had to have a sexuality in order for the language to work. Feminine words and masculine words were treated differently. French, Spanish, Italian and German, all still have gender in their nouns, though English doesn't. But, as English has been adapted from Latin, too, the gender of the thing in question has maintained this association. As a rough guideline, anything that can produce life, or carry something within it, is female, anything else is male. It's a bit like the Chinese concept of Yin and Yang, if you're familiar with that idea. Hardly an exciting response to a good question, but I hope an informative one. On a lighter note, there is an old English rhyme that states, 'Sugar and spice, and all things nice, that's what little girls are made of. Snips and snails and puppy dogs tails, that's what boys are made of.' Bleeding sexist, if you ask me. LOL All the best.
1 person likes this
@sunshinecup (7871)
13 Jan 07
Because the world like girls better than they do boys. nanny nanny nanny :-) Just kidding, because, men love their toys, but it’s not macho to say they love a “dude”, so they refer to them as "she". That is how I always seen it. Me being a female, I don't care, my little Toyota camera, is a girl in fact her name is Veronica. LOL
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• United States
13 Jan 07
Because men want the ability to be in "love" with those objects without feeling like they're wrong! Just my 2 cents worth though. Most guys would be really strange about calling a car they baby a "he".
@konzen (271)
• Philippines
13 Jan 07
That's really a good point, it may sound strange for a guy but not for a gal.
1 person likes this