Rayzor Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Is it just me, or does it seem to get really quiet when I'm around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 No, it´s quiet sometimes too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Joe Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Shhhhhhh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 (edited) I still have a question... it´s about grammar, I know in English the nouns don´t have a genre except for, maybe, ship? and cat? Now I found "sparrow" would also be a "she"... Am I right? Why? Do I make a lot of questions? Did I make it clear or my English is just so crappy I should register in some spanish or french forum? I mean, I believe "ship" and "cat" are feminine... I learned something like that in school almost 40 years ago... Edited February 14, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 ha ha for some reason storms are also considered "feminine." And people refer to their vehicles in the feminine context. Those that refer to their cars in such a manner at all, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Oh, I knew about cars too, I didn´t remember... But I didn´t know about storms... So birds are feminine too? I think English is the only language -that I know of- that has no genre for the nouns... which is pretty wise, by the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 There's an (incomplete) list of languages with grammatical genders on wikipedia: Click Scroll down a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 wow, thank you, Fin... I´ll have some fun as soon as I can get rid of my boss and read that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 (edited) Bird and ship/boat are feminine in Hindi too edit: I wonder if it's a universal thing... Edited February 14, 2008 by Guest pondering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Bird and ship/boat are feminine in Hindi too edit: I wonder if it's a universal thing... bird is male of course and ship/boat is neuter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayzor Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 both are male in french Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 ^ oh yeah... I knew that nevermind my pondering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayzor Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 it's ok Radhi! we all have our moments of brain-cramp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Both "ship" and "bird" are male in Spanish too. In Russian, "ship" is male and "bird" is feminine... but "Hapiness", "coffee", "Christmas" are neuter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 In Hindi (well, Urdu), 'Happiness' is a girl's name, even. It's a nice word... I like it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 my cats are both neutered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 but "cat" is female! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayzor Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 especially now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 ahhh... but "neuter" is neutral. My vet explained to me that both male and females animals get neutered. Males get castrated, and females get hysterectomies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayzor Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 OMG!! I lived on a farm... you'd think I would know stuff like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Laurie_ Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel2Velvet Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 In American English all nouns ARE genderless. There may be occasions when a gender pronoun might be inserted by tradition; such as a ship, "Should I bring her around to nor-noreast Cap'n? Arggg" But that is by no means a rule. A baseball is often referred to in the feminine, "Hit her outta the park!" That doesn't imply that if someone said, "Hit it out .." or even "Hit him out .." that they would be wrong using either of those alternative forms. One never has to concern themselves with supplying the proper gender to a noun in American English (which is the opposite for me in stuffing Portuguese into my head - learning that my arm is masculine, but my leg is feminine!) In English, everything is "a ..." or "the ...." The pronoun "it" will cover any item not gender specific. It is a simple language, in basic form. The complexities come much further down the experiencial road, beyond rudimentary understandable communication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 Thank you, Ron, that was the info I needed... So maybe in poetry they still use genres for some words...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel2Velvet Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 Edna, in poetry or prose, almost anything may be seen and is necessarily acceptable. Termed "literary license," if language modification helps a writer get their point across, they may make up their own rules. As exemplified by JRR Tolkien, an entire language may be invented to fit the writer's needs; the rules of which are entirely up to the inventor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted February 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2008 which is the opposite for me in stuffing Portuguese into my head - learning that my arm is masculine, but my leg is feminine! That likely is a a result of all the waxing required to look good on the beaches of Rio ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now