Talk:ship

Gender

Could someone write to the section 'Usage notes' that a pronoun instead ship is always feminine (or can also be feminine?). Eg.: It's the first time I've seen a ship. She was very big. (not It was very big.) or There were lots of people on her. (not There were lots of people on it) Or I can quotate from the Pirates of the Caribbean, too: She is gettin' closer., etc... --Ferike333 10:25, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, this should be in a usage note, but it’s not really gender. In English, it’s anthropomorphization. Ships and cars, machines that you climb into and which protect you and contain you, are ladies. Storms traditionally are ladies, but under pressure of modern PC, they are being redefined as ambisexual. Seas are ladies, which, like storms, can be dangerous and unpredictable. Computers and things with AI are often boys. —Stephen 16:56, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Oh, very interesting. I've read something similar in Spanish (in The Old Man and the Sea), but haven't in English before. Can even a truck be a she? Ferike333 17:29, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes, trunks, big airplanes, large machines. Until just recent years, we always gave women’s names to powerful storms such as hurricanes, but a couple of decades ago women began to complain, so now we alternate between men’s and women’s names. Women got tired of being compared to hurricanes. —Stephen 18:43, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Hehe;) You have a good sense of humor. But what trunks did you mean? All? Trunk has several meanings (nasal organ of elephants or mammoths, the body of trees, the part of cars called boot outside the US). Ferike333 11:43, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, it’s a typo. I meant trucks, large vehicles used to transport goods. British lorries. —Stephen 11:31, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Uncountable ?

In nautical language in Aye, aye, sir (the correct reply on board ship on receipt of an order) --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:59, 8 July 2021 (UTC)