Date:  Tue, 30 Jan 1996 14:21:36 -0500

From:  Molly Dickmeyer <dickmeye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JBLSMTP.PHL.LRPUB.COM>

Subject: Re: why are ships referred to as she (fwd) -Reply



How 'bout BB King's guitar, Lucille, as another example?

Molly

dickmeye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]phl.lrpub.com



>>> Donald Larmouth <LARMOUTD[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GBMS01.UWGB.EDU> 1/30/96, 10:22am >>>

Seems to me there's something more to this than being "wedded to the

sea." My sense is that favorite male possessions of many kinds are

referred to as "she," including favorite automobiles (not just hot

rods or sports cars), trucks, rifles, shotguns, boats, motorcycles,

tractors, fly rods, big game trolling reels, etc., especially when

human qualities are attributed to them

(faithfulness, power, dependability, contrariness, etc.). It might be

interesting to see just how extensive the range really is. The list

I've given here is well attested in my own experience, but no doubt

there are other objects that are associated with female pronouns and

even given female names

(until recently, that included tropical storms and hurricanes, but

now there is gender balance in naming storms, at least in the

National Weather Service). In contrast, I suspect that very few

possessions are referred to with 'he' (it's always 'Old Betsy,' never

'Old Bob' or 'Old Fred').



DWL