Re: gender in English

On Thu, 7 Sep 2000, andrew wrote:

> Am 09/06 21:42  Yoon Ha Lee yscrifef:
> >
> > <wry g>  I hadn't known that.  I tend to think of Death as female, but I
> > can't tell you why.  In Korean folklore the moon has two rabbits in it.
> > =^p  I'm not aware of any gender-associations for the rabbits, though.
> >
> The most popular concept of Death as a female currently would be Neil
> Gaiman's Death of the Endless (Sandman and all that).
I've read those, and she's a *great* Death, but I thought of Death as a
her before that.  :-p

> After the separation of the first ancestors, in Maori Mythology, the god
> Tane fashioned the first woman from sand.  He made love to her and the
[snip]

I've read that.  :-)  Or something like it, anyway; my mom picked up a
book of Polynesian folk tales from a library discard pile (!) since she
was on good terms with the librarian.  Great stuff.

YHL