Re: French (was Re: Re: Optimum number of symbols)

I think part of the confusion here is using the terms 'masculine' and
'feminine', again a hangover from classical grammar. No French person thinks
of a chair as being feminine (in the 'womanly' sense). These are merely
labels for the two gender classes of French. The word 'gender' in English is
associated with sex, but in linguistic terms, it is merely a noun class.
Other languages have noun classes based on other criteria, for example,
shape, animacy, and so on.
Ships are still feminine in English (and incidentally, I have never heard
any other plural form of ox other than oxen) because the old sailors felt
themselves to be as 'bonded' to their ships as to their wives!
Mike
> -Kendra
> http://www.refrigeratedcake.com
> http://www.refrigeratedcake.com/other/theatre -- Vade Mecum (comic)

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