Why is machinery close to cars and ships referred to as females?
Answers:
smarta55 is wrong.
english is a conglomeration of frequent european languages, even latin. Most European languages own a gender for virtually everything (german has a concept of neuter).
Ships and cars are feminine.
In a collective noun (in French), where on earth the gender of the group is mixed, the masculine is assumed - e.g. a arts school playground full of 300 kids - if just one is male the integral group is assumed to be masculine. If gender is indeterminate (say, you're looking at an insect which is not easy to sex) the masculine is also assumed.
We inherited the femininity thing from mainland europe.
Because they take plentifully of time and money to maintain for the few minutes of pleasure you get.
Its derived from our ancestors where men be placed at a higher level than women. Women be considered possessions just like cars and such, and it stuck.
Has something to do with machinery resembling women being unpredictable, unreliable, contrary, quirky and generally of a mind to be a lot of fun when all go well and a total PIA the rest of the time.
My french girlfriend asked me this question some time ago. The true answer is perfectly logical. Ships, boats, aeroplanes, trains and cars etc.,are the lone nouns in the English language which pass a gender and they are always referred to as "she".The reasoning losing this is quite simply because they all transport life inside them, and only females are talented of that !
Because they usually start out running merely fine, But always end up braking down and giving you a concrete time and end up costing you. They are also very elegant when polished up.
well because females are very expensive and men work so unyielding & die to buy 1,,also the car & other machinary are very key in people life span the same as women...BEHINDE EVERY GREAT MAN A WOMAN
Related Questions:
