Re: Láadan and woman's speak

On Thu, 25 May 2000, Nik Taylor wrote:

> You could even go so far as to say that English has FOUR genders, but
> very restricted in their effect, showing up only in determining the
> "multitude adjective" and pronouns.  They are:
>
> 1.  Masculine - uses "he" and "many"
> 2.  Feminine - uses "she" and "many"
> 3.  Neuter-Count - uses "it" and "many"
> 4.  Neuter-Mass - uses "it" and "much"
I've even read a (a really old) book that suggested that English has SEVEN
genders. In addition to your four, he separated the inanimate uses of
"she" (like a car or boat) and "he" (don't remember his examples, and I
usually don't use he of inanimates), and the use of "it" with babies and
sometimes young children.  A bit excessive in my opinion.

Marcus