# Exceptions to the "no-gender" rule in English **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485 "2009-09-25T04:44:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/1 "2009-09-25T04:44:14Z")
Didn’t want to hijack [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533352). We always refer to ships as being feminine, and we used to do the same with hurricanes. And I’ve heard some people do the same with their cars. Are there any other things we give a gender to in English? (I’m not including silly people who consider all dogs masculine and all cats feminine.) ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/2 "2009-09-25T04:46:50Z")
blonde/blond, brunette/brunet. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/3 "2009-09-25T04:48:52Z")
A lot of gizmos that are expensive or extensively customizable tend to fall under female (I’ve only rarely heard masculine), everything from computers to tricked out sound systems can be referred to as she. Granted, of course, they’ll often still be referred to as “it” a lot of times, but if they’re bragging or acting proud of it people use “she” a lot. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/4 "2009-09-25T05:25:13Z")
Actually, this is kind of the opposite. We apply gender to almost all human relations (e.g. Mother, father, grandpa, grandma, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, son, daughter, nephew, niece…) but no gender differentiation for cousins. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/5 "2009-09-25T05:27:18Z")
duplicate post. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/6 "2009-09-25T05:40:31Z")
Guns are sometimes given female names, such as Davey Crockett’s rifle “Betsy” or Mack Bolan’s 9mm “Belle”. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/7 "2009-09-25T06:02:51Z")
And the word “gun” itself, deriving from an ancient ballista given the woman’s name Gunilda. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/8 "2009-09-25T06:15:25Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > And the word “gun” itself, deriving from an ancient ballista given the woman’s name Gunilda. That’s fascinating, I was unaware of this probable etymology. Here’s OED: > [@](#): > > With regard to the ultimate etymology, a suggestion has been made by Prof. Skeat that ME. gunne may represent a hypocoristic form of a Scandinavian female name compounded with Gunn-. This conjecture receives a strong confirmation from the fact (communicated to us by Mr. W. H. Stevenson) that an account of munitions at Windsor Castle in 1330-1 (Exchequer Accts. Q.R. Bundle 18, no. 34, Pub. Rec. Office) mentions ‘una magna balista de cornu quæ vocatur Domina Gunilda’. There are other instances of the practice of bestowing female personal names on engines of war; but there was no distinguished lady named Gunilda (= ON. Gunnhild-r; spelt Gunnild in Havelok) in the 14th c., and it seems highly probable that this use of the name may have come down from Scandinavian times, when its exceedingly appropriate etymology would be understood (both gunn-r and hild-r mean ‘war’). If Gunnhildr, as is likely, was a name frequently given to ballistæ and the like, it would naturally, on the introduction of gunpowder, be given also to cannon. Indeed, there is some appearance of evidence that an explosive engine was actually called by this name many years before the earliest recorded instance of the use of gunpowder in warfare. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/9 "2009-09-25T09:17:00Z")
Living in South-west England (Bristol) I’ve noticed a widespread linguistic quirk; inanimate objects are referred to by male pronouns. So if I were to ask where a frying pan should be put for instance, I might get the response “put him in the cupboard there” or " 'e [he] goes in there". I haven’t heard this anywhere else, but to me it adds an oddly magical quality to mundane conversations. ---
**Author:** ![Bamboo\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Bamboo\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bamboo_Boy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/10 "2009-09-25T09:39:51Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Actually, this is kind of the opposite. We apply gender to almost all human relations (e.g. Mother, father, grandpa, grandma, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, son, daughter, nephew, niece…) but no gender differentiation for cousins. Weird. This is something that I never noticed before I began learning Danish. In Danish, _kusine_ is a female cousin while _fætter_ is a cousin. So if you are speaking English to a Dane and use the word cousin, they will frequently assume that you must mean a female relation, which may or not be correct. It’s weird- we have nephew/niece, after all… BB ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/11 "2009-09-25T12:20:25Z")
there used to be a lot of words that are now not politically correct: waiter/waitress (replaced by the gender-neutral “Server”) steward/stewardess ( " " " " " flight attendant") aviator/aviatrix (i.e. Emilia Earhart) tailor/seamstress actor/actress (hmm…I guess these are still in use) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/12 "2009-09-25T12:25:16Z")
aviatrix (e.g., Emelia Earhart) I don’t usually nitpick. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/13 "2009-09-25T12:28:49Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > aviatrix (e.g., Emelia Earhart) > > I don’t usually nitpick. 😛 aviatrix (e.g., Amelia Earhart) I don’t usually nitpick, either. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/14 "2009-09-25T12:44:19Z")
This isn’t the same as grammatical gender. Vehicles are often referred to as she, I suspect, as a way of anthropomorphising it, perhaps a throwback to when women were considered possessions “Isn’t she a beauty!”. It’s not the same as languages that make words feminine or masculine or neutral. In French for example, they’re not giving tables, chairs and knives and forks masculine or feminine qualities, they’re not considering them male or female. Giving female names to hurricanes too, isn’t grammatical gender. It’s just a naming system. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/15 "2009-09-25T13:13:44Z")
> [@Bamboo\_Boy](#): > > It’s weird- we have nephew/niece, after all… And yet, we don’t have a gender neutral term for them the way we do for other relationships (sibling, parent, spouse). ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/16 "2009-09-25T13:20:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > And yet, we don’t have a gender neutral term for them the way we do for other relationships (sibling, parent, spouse). There isn’t a gender-neutral term for uncle and aunt either. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/17 "2009-09-25T14:21:47Z")
The technical term, by the way, for a male or female identity imposed upon an inanimate object that ordinarily would be considered neuter by a language’s standard grammatical rules is _attributive gender_. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/18 "2009-09-25T14:29:33Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > And the word “gun” itself, deriving from an ancient ballista given the woman’s name Gunilda. There was a Confederate battery commander whose field guns were named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/19 "2009-09-25T15:16:14Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > There was a Confederate battery commander whose field guns were named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Because when they spoke they sent Union soldiers to Heaven? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485/20 "2009-09-25T15:18:07Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > actor/actress (hmm..I guess these are still in use) They are, but the weight of usage is starting to tip over into the “actor” box. I’ve seen a LOT of female tv/movie stars refer to themselves specifically as actors in interviews the last few years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exceptions-to-the-no-gender-rule-in-english/511485.md?page=2)