# Calling all Brits: Are dogs and cats really all "he" and "she"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538 "2008-01-06T22:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/21 "2008-01-07T11:04:23Z")
[hijack] “She’s the cat’s mother”. Not used in the US? The subject made me think of it. Used to rebuke a child who has said “she” instead of calling the person by name. “She set us some homework” “You mean _Mrs. Thompson_ set us some homework. _She_ is the cat’s mother” [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/22 "2008-01-07T11:38:23Z")
When I was at school my English teacher insisted that all animals were “it”. She was shouted down by the entire class. But I’ve never heard of dogs being exclusively male and cats female, in the UK or anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/23 "2008-01-07T22:20:41Z")
Allow me to add that in my 54 years I have never heard of this practice. In certain situations, I have used the phrase ‘come on chaps’ to address a group of men and women, but that’s just my affectation… ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/24 "2008-01-07T22:34:47Z")
[QUOTE=glee] In certain situations, I have used the phrase ‘come on chaps’ to address a group of men and women, but that’s just my affectation… [/QUOTE] I do that sometimes, I think. I do go to the the other extreme as well, and will accuse a student orchestra of ‘playing like a bunch of girls’ when they’re 95% female 😃 (sometimes you just need to provoke them a bit!) ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/25 "2008-01-07T23:08:45Z")
I’ve read several early-20th-century books by various English authors in which gender-unknown or gender-unspecified cats were referred to as “she” in contexts that suggest this was a convention of the era; of course, I can’t think of a single example at the moment… although I suspect PG Wodehouse and Dorothy Sayers are two of the culprits. But I haven’t even heard of calling all dogs “he”. JRB ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/26 "2008-01-07T23:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I have a once-removed cousin (not removed far enough), in her '50s and not at all British, who really does believe that all dogs are male and all cats are female. She claims that dogs inseminate cats, who have mixed litters of puppies and kittens. This woman has had dogs or cats her entire life; all the dogs have had male names, and the cats have had female names. She’s actually been shown the genitals of female dogs and male cats, but nothing will shake her belief. And by the way, she works in a hospital. :eek: [/QUOTE] Thank Og it’s not a _veterinary_ hospital. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/27 "2008-01-07T23:49:40Z")
All my life, dogs have defaulted to “He” and cats to “She” until you know different. With cats, it’s not always obvious upon closer inspection, especially if a male cat has been neutered. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/28 "2008-01-08T01:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] Is your friend five? Because I know a lot of times, little kids think dogs are boys and cats are girls. [/QUOTE] In America, this usage sometimes persists into normal adult discourse; a current cat food commercial urges us to surprise _her_ with the delicious product being proffered. It rubs me the wrong way…we have four cats, all neutered males, that we collectively call “the boys”. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/29 "2008-01-08T02:15:09Z")
[QUOTE=jasonh300] All my life, dogs have defaulted to “He” and cats to “She” until you know different. With cats, it’s not always obvious upon closer inspection, especially if a male cat has been neutered. [/QUOTE] This is true of my grandparents’ generation. It doesn’t seem so common anymore, but I’ve heard a lot of older people refer to dogs as he and cats as she. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538/30 "2008-01-08T06:26:35Z")
I think people who may do this are also following the (wrong) stereotype that dogs are pets for men and cats are pets for women. As a male cat owner I say PFFFFFFFFF!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-brits-are-dogs-and-cats-really-all-he-and-she/432538.md?page=1)