# ships/boats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874 "2001-09-05T16:07:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@ali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/1 "2001-09-05T16:07:56Z")
Why are ships always called she or her. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/2 "2001-09-05T16:13:58Z")
Actually, they aren’t always female. The Russian and, IIRC, German, tradition has ships as male. But, from an old quote I remember imperfectly: > [@](#): > > A ship, like a woman, has a waist and stays, is always surrounded by bustling men running errands and seeing to urgent matters, is always the center of attention, and demands the constant care of the men to which her care is entrusted. This comes, again IIRC, from an English sailor in the mid 1700s. Dunno if that helps, but there you are. ---
**Author:** ![ali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@ali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/3 "2001-09-05T16:28:22Z")
Thanx for that Tranquilis much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/4 "2001-09-05T16:34:24Z")
[The Liner she’s a lady](http://www.oldpoets.com/get.cgi?882&y) by the paint upon ‘er face, An’ if she meets an accident they count it sore disgrace: The Man-o’-War’s 'er 'usband, and 'e’s always 'andy by, But, oh, the little cargo-boats! they’ve got to load or die. Yeah, the relevence is questionable, but it seemed like an excuse to Kipple. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/5 "2001-09-05T17:03:46Z")
I heard about one boat that went out and scuttled itself. It was depressed when it found out ita mother was a tramp and its father was a ferry. Thank you! I’ll be here all week. Be sure to try the buffet! ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/6 "2001-09-05T19:07:46Z")
I once read that airships (Zeppelins and so on) used to be referred to as male, even if they bore a female name. Maybe this was intentiously done to set a difference to naval ships I don’t know. In German, ships are always referred to as “she” too, btw. About Russian I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/7 "2001-09-06T00:57:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Schnitte \* > \*\*I once read that airships (Zeppelins and so on) used to be referred to as male, even if they bore a female name. Maybe this was intentiously done to set a difference to naval ships I don’t know. \*\* Phallic symbolism. Fun Factoid-- Any watercraft intended & designed for use in _fresh water **only** _ is always refered to as a boat. Even the million ton ore freighters that ply the waters of North America’s Great Lakes are called “ore boats”. ---
**Author:** ![Doughboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Doughboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughboy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/8 "2001-09-06T03:56:06Z")
I seem to remember something from my German classes about the gender system that they have for nouns. I think that things of beauty or power are often feminine. English is related to German, and although we have lost most of the gender aspect in our language, maybe it’s a holdover from the old way the language was used. ---
**Author:** ![ali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@ali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/9 "2001-09-06T09:12:41Z")
Thanx for all the reply’s. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/10 "2001-09-06T12:16:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I seem to remember something from my German classes about the gender system that they have for nouns. I think that things of beauty or power are often feminine. English is related to German, and although we have lost most of the gender aspect in our language, maybe it’s a holdover from the old way the language was used. Except that it’s _das_ Schiff and _das_ Boot. “Das” is neuter. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ships-boats/79874/11 "2001-09-06T12:24:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\* > Except that it’s _das_ Schiff and _das_ Boot. “Das” is neuter. \*\* Right, but if you refer to a ship by name, you always use the feminine form in German; it’s “die Otto Hahn” for example, and “die” is feminine, although Otto Hahn after whom the vessel was named was a man. I never heard about the beauty-and-power-is-feminine-rule, but I thought about it and it seems to be true in most cases.