3 ms·

Congrats, and good read. Off-topic: referring to the business as "she" comes across as very weird to me. Is this common? I know some women can find that offens

Congrats, and good read. Off-topic: referring to the business as "she" comes across as very weird to me. Is this common? I know some women can find that offensive.

eugeneionesco 11y ago
What the fuck?...
superamit 11y ago
re: Gender-specific pronouns for inanimates - English is weird. It sounds right to my ear as "she", but the opposite to others. Historically if a gender is required, male is used, but some find that offensive. On the other hand, certain inanimate objects (countries, vehicles of many kinds) are referred to as "she" simply because of tradition. My girlfriend is learning a little Hindi right now and she finds it maddening that nouns are gendered male or female seemingly at random. I can tell her which is which, but as far as I know there's no system. Some are just male, some are female. Anyway, "it" sounded weird in that sentence. I should have just rewritten it. :)
- ohitsdom 11y ago
  Yeah, I tried finding links to go with my comment, but information I found was varied and often contradictory. English is definitely weird. I was just curious what others thought (while hopefully not derailing the comments). "It" sounds way more appropriate to me. Anyway, back to the actual content...
- bbgm 11y ago
  I grew up in India (admittedly in an English-speaking household), and even today I get my genders mixed up all the time. It makes no sense whatsoever.
adventured 11y ago
It's not uncommon. Women don't have any unique ownership of the term "she." If you refer to your dog lucy, you might say: she likes that toy. People sometimes refer to their vehicles as her or she and give them cute names. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/she http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/she 2) "used to refer to one regarded as feminine (as by personification) <she was a fine ship>"
worklogin 11y ago
I know some people can find a picture of a kitten offensive. Are there legitimate reasons to feel that way?
thret 11y ago
Because it is unnecessary in English, when you refer to something inanimate as male or female it implies you have an emotional attachment. I refer to my car as 'it', my girlfriend calls it a 'she'. When she parked it into a pole she cried and I shrugged.

Congrats, and good read. Off-topic: referring to the business as "she" comes across as very weird to me. Is this common? I know some women can find that offensive.

eugeneionesco 11y ago

What the fuck?...

superamit 11y ago

re: Gender-specific pronouns for inanimates - English is weird. It sounds right to my ear as "she", but the opposite to others. Historically if a gender is required, male is used, but some find that offensive. On the other hand, certain inanimate objects (countries, vehicles of many kinds) are referred to as "she" simply because of tradition. My girlfriend is learning a little Hindi right now and she finds it maddening that nouns are gendered male or female seemingly at random. I can tell her which is which, but as far as I know there's no system. Some are just male, some are female. Anyway, "it" sounded weird in that sentence. I should have just rewritten it. :)

ohitsdom 11y ago
Yeah, I tried finding links to go with my comment, but information I found was varied and often contradictory. English is definitely weird. I was just curious what others thought (while hopefully not derailing the comments). "It" sounds way more appropriate to me. Anyway, back to the actual content...
bbgm 11y ago
I grew up in India (admittedly in an English-speaking household), and even today I get my genders mixed up all the time. It makes no sense whatsoever.

adventured 11y ago

It's not uncommon. Women don't have any unique ownership of the term "she." If you refer to your dog lucy, you might say: she likes that toy. People sometimes refer to their vehicles as her or she and give them cute names. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/she http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/she 2) "used to refer to one regarded as feminine (as by personification) <she was a fine ship>"

worklogin 11y ago

I know some people can find a picture of a kitten offensive. Are there legitimate reasons to feel that way?

thret 11y ago

Because it is unnecessary in English, when you refer to something inanimate as male or female it implies you have an emotional attachment. I refer to my car as 'it', my girlfriend calls it a 'she'. When she parked it into a pole she cried and I shrugged.