The ship is feminine
- Thread starter Deckerd
- Start date
It's okay. Your dress is pretty.
I don't think all types of conveyance. Motorcycles tend to be neuter (or 'beast'
). Cars have pretty much lost gender in modern parlance. There was a big discussion about this some years ago because someone objected to the RN referring to ships as 'she'; something about it being outdated and not relevant in modern times or something. Not sure what the outcome was. I just have no recollection of this kind of terminology being used in Trek.
I'm sure Tigh said "her back's broken, she won't be jumping again" but I might have misheard.
I don't think all types of conveyance. Motorcycles tend to be neuter (or 'beast'
). Cars have pretty much lost gender in modern parlance. There was a big discussion about this some years ago because someone objected to the RN referring to ships as 'she'; something about it being outdated and not relevant in modern times or something. Not sure what the outcome was. I just have no recollection of this kind of terminology being used in Trek. I'm sure Tigh said "her back's broken, she won't be jumping again" but I might have misheard.
US/British tradition is to refer to ships in the feminine (which makes me uncomfortable when the ship has a man's name, like the USS Ronald Reagan).
I believe Russian tradition is to refer to ships in the masculine.
To answer your question, in the TOS episode "The Naked Time," Kirk muses on his affection for the Enterprise and says out loud, "Now I know why they call it... she."
I don't recall in Galactica specifically, but there's no reason why they'd break from Western tradition. Didn't someone say "She'll never jump again!" in the finale?
I believe Russian tradition is to refer to ships in the masculine.
To answer your question, in the TOS episode "The Naked Time," Kirk muses on his affection for the Enterprise and says out loud, "Now I know why they call it... she."
I don't recall in Galactica specifically, but there's no reason why they'd break from Western tradition. Didn't someone say "She'll never jump again!" in the finale?
Why can't Ronald Reagan be a woman?
Yeah, ships are traditionally feminine. So are countries, and occasionally land masses. And the ocean.
It's a poetic usage rather than grammatical, the ship is a sailor's wife, mother, and lover, metaphorically.
The usage isn't outdated any more than Oscar Wilde is outdated. It's a poetic appellation, not a scientific designation.
Yeah, ships are traditionally feminine. So are countries, and occasionally land masses. And the ocean.
It's a poetic usage rather than grammatical, the ship is a sailor's wife, mother, and lover, metaphorically.
The usage isn't outdated any more than Oscar Wilde is outdated. It's a poetic appellation, not a scientific designation.
That's German. In English it's The Motherland.
Notice that a great many British colonies have feminine names. America is a feminine form of Amerigo, then you've got Georgia, Virginia, Carolina, Jamaica, Australia, and others. Great Britain herself is usually referred to as feminine.
Indeed. Old war posters often depicted Britain as a mother lion or bear with the commonwealth countries as her cubs.
It's certainly not meant in any kind of derogatory way, that is to be sure, even if the occasional ultra-feminist type thinks it is. It's a term of endearment and adoration, not the objectification of women as property or any such bullshit.
And of course, in the classic "Futurama" episode...
"Alas, my ship, whom I love like a woman (oh, lord...) is... DISABLED."
Britain's female form was Britannia (as in "Rule Britannia").
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia
America has both Lady Liberty and Columbia. And of course, Uncle Sam, Yankee Doodle, Johnny Rebel, Billy Yank, etc...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_personification
Some countries consider themselves female and others consider themselves male. Germany is "the Fatherland", and thus, male. Though, Germany has Germania.
In other languages, it depends. Sometimes it's feminine as in "l'Amérique" or "la France" and sometimes it's male as in "le Mexique" or "le Japon".
Ships being feminine is a choice in English. One of those rare non-gendered objects given a gender in the genderless English language. "Un barco" and "un navire" are masculine, while "una nave" is feminine. "Ein Schiff" is gender neutral (das/ein).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia
America has both Lady Liberty and Columbia. And of course, Uncle Sam, Yankee Doodle, Johnny Rebel, Billy Yank, etc...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_personification
Some countries consider themselves female and others consider themselves male. Germany is "the Fatherland", and thus, male. Though, Germany has Germania.
In other languages, it depends. Sometimes it's feminine as in "l'Amérique" or "la France" and sometimes it's male as in "le Mexique" or "le Japon".
Ships being feminine is a choice in English. One of those rare non-gendered objects given a gender in the genderless English language. "Un barco" and "un navire" are masculine, while "una nave" is feminine. "Ein Schiff" is gender neutral (das/ein).
Last edited:
True, but as soon as it has been named, it becomes female. "Die Titanic".
In the Man Trap, Sulu asks Rand why ships are always refered to as "she".
Trek often followed nautical tradition and referred to vessels as "she."
He calls her a "female" in "The Corbomite Maneuver."
From the episode:
You can see it in these selected Kirk and McCoy clips (@4:14) from the episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qYxnLC9P-o
Similar threads
