When people talk about ships/cargo vessels, why do they say "she is big" or "she can carry 8000 containers", etc etc.
2006-08-14 06:33:16 · 3 answers · asked by A hardworking American 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Corporations
Tradition. One theory is that since romance languages assign the female gender to the noun for "ship" this practice carried over into English. Another theory is that since female figures were carved onto ship bows they gendered the ships as females.
Anyway, according to this link: http://ask.yahoo.com/20060627.html, ships are now iffcialy "it."
2006-08-14 06:45:42 · answer #1 · answered by Joe T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because Seafarers were typically lonley men, and they refer to the sleek lines of the ship as the female in their life.
2006-08-14 13:38:09 · answer #2 · answered by BuyTheSeaProperty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sea vessel owners and ship captains are usually men so they refer to their ships, boats, yachts, etc., as the love of their lives and would be comfortable referring to them as "she". and would christen them with feminine names and send them off on their maiden voyages.
2006-08-14 14:02:24 · answer #3 · answered by babytalk 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋