# Which gender is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787 "2004-04-13T14:47:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Miss\_Magic8ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Miss\_Magic8ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Magic8ball)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/1 "2004-04-13T14:47:36Z")
Ok, you know how sailors and such reffered to thier boats(well, to all boats, I guess) as “she”? I was just talking to the boyfreind who’s in college to be a computer programer analyst or computet analyst programmer or some complicated thing like that(basically a computer nerd) and I refered to my 'puter as a she. He said no, its a he. Which one is it? Or… is it just… “it”? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/2 "2004-04-13T15:06:18Z")
My observations are in part based on German where the distinction is even more prominent because it is also when refering to the computer directly. I seems that computers are often perceived as male. If they are not treated as neutral (btw. in German they never are,) standard computers are a “he” but impressive high-end computers have a chance of turning female. e.g. “You have to see our new sun/sgi/cray, she has 32 processors!” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/3 "2004-04-13T15:18:22Z")
All my computers have been He’s. It just felt right. I would suspect if I ever had a supercomputer that was more boat-like, it’d be a She. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/4 "2004-04-13T15:23:49Z")
I for one roll my eyes at modern writers who call ships “she.” I think of it as an archaism, and just as affected as “whilst” or “methinks.” ---
**Author:** ![Kymodoce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8797f3/32.png) [@Kymodoce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kymodoce)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/5 "2004-04-13T15:28:08Z")
**lissener** Gadzooks, Sirrah! Whilst I appreciate your sentiment, I take leave to disagree. I am lucky enough to be ‘around’ boats both in my work and recreation, and find people referring to them as ‘it’ jars me as much as them being referreed to as ‘she’ does to you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Magic8ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Miss\_Magic8ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Magic8ball)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/6 "2004-04-13T16:01:16Z")
I’ve always reffered to boats as she, unless they’re REALLY ugly and then I call them Its. Never boys though. I don’t think the boats would stay afloat if they were male… not enough brains. Sorry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/7 "2004-04-13T16:14:45Z")
I was under the impression that some cultures (Russian?) refer to ships as masculine. Is this correct or am I mistaken? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/8 "2004-04-13T16:28:14Z")
I’m currently posting this from a computer named Cassandra, whereas my computer at home is Teena. Are you trying to tell me that Cassandra and Teena are boys’ names? I think not. Along the same lines, in the office my sister used to work in, her phone was named Betty. One of her cow-orkers once asked her how she knew the phone was female. She picked up the receiver, looked under it, and put it back, without saying a word. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/9 "2004-04-13T17:38:19Z")
Oddly, in Spanish and Portuguese (the only two languages I’m familiar with that have grammatical gender) the most common words for “ship” and “boat” are masculine. Even odder, in Spanish the word for computer (_la computadora_) is feminine, while the equivilant word in Portuguese (_o computador_) is masculine. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/10 "2004-04-13T19:39:38Z")
I’m not sure there’s a factual answer to the question of what gender a computer _should_ be considered. There’s always the [humorous answer](http://www.jokesplace.com/joke/computersmf.html) (for a thinly stretched definition of “humorous”). I’ve always named my computers after mythological locations. My first Mac desktop was Atlantis, my first Mac laptop was Valhalla. My iBook was Avalon. My desktop PC is Eldorado. They’re not really masculine or feminine, they’re just different places where I store stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/11 "2004-04-13T20:48:15Z")
Well, certainly, IBM computers are male, which is why the computer in 2001 was named HAL. H-I, A-B, L-M. The author of 2001 revealed this long ago. Hal also had a male voice. The computer on Star Trek is female(not IBM). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/12 "2004-04-14T07:44:15Z")
Actually, Arthur C. Clarke denies the connection between IBM and HAL, and says that it’s just a coincidence. This may or may not be true, but the only one who knows is Clarke himself, so we rather have to take his word for it. And while HAL is presented as male, he had a “sister” named SAL, a computer of the same model, back on Earth in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/13 "2004-04-14T11:11:17Z")
> [@whatami](#): > > I was under the impression that some cultures (Russian?) refer to ships as masculine. Is this correct or am I mistaken? Don’t know about russian ships, but french ones are always male… (even they have female names, like the helicopter carrier “Jeanne d’Arc”) ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/14 "2004-04-14T12:22:00Z")
[off topic]By the way, Fish, I just noticed your signature, how about a little color? ;)[/off topic] ```php **·´¯`·.¸¸..** ><((((º> **.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸** ><((((º> **¸.·´¯`·.¸.,.** ``` IIRC, working with the Japanese translators, I believe computers are male. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/15 "2004-04-14T12:34:56Z")
All the computing beasts with which I have fought, over the years, have been "it"s. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/16 "2004-04-14T16:04:18Z")
[even more off topic] > [@Mynn](#): > > [off topic]By the way, Fish, I just noticed your signature, how about a little color? ;)[/off topic] My jaw dropped when I saw the scroll window in your post. I didn’t know that was possible. PHP I see. I’ll have to look into it. I wonder if the CODE tag works like that too? [/even more off topic] ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/17 "2004-04-14T16:15:12Z")
> [@Algernon](#): > > [even more off topic] > My jaw dropped when I saw the scroll window in your post. I didn’t know that was possible. PHP I see. I’ll have to look into it. I wonder if the CODE tag works like that too? > > [/even more off topic] I experimented … the code tag does produce a scroll if the text is wide enough, but DOESN’T work like the PHP tag apparently did. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/18 "2004-04-14T17:32:51Z")
I call computers “it”. You have to maintain a certain detachment, in case they need to be smacked, kicked, or euthanized. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/19 "2004-04-14T18:10:00Z")
I’m the only person I know who gives things names without giving them gender. The computer I’m typing this on, for example, is named Artemis, but it’s not a chick. Likewise, my car the Ivory Destrier (Slayer of Tires), is an it. What I’ve noted is that in English there are certain things, most notably ships, which are specifically referred to as female. But it’s very rare to find something that’s specifically referred to as male. I asked my roommate if she could think of any, and the only example we came up with was a planet like Mars, which is male when it’s being evoked with the qualities of the god with which it shares its name. But in science fiction stories, the planet one is standing on is often referred to as female (especially if one is getting their ass kicked by the planet), and I think I recall this being done to Mars on a few occassions. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787/20 "2004-04-15T03:23:30Z")
Thanks, **Mynn**! I’ll try this out for a while. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gender-is-it/239787.md?page=2)