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Gender neutral ships now!

(78 Posts)
Urmstongran Wed 24-Apr-19 13:52:22

Who exactly is this supposed to appease? I can't think of anyone, male or female who would be that offended by how an INANIMATE SHIP is referred to!

It's an historical tradition for crying out loud.

Grandad1943 Thu 25-Apr-19 12:15:14

Regarding posts in this thread that refer to the title of "Chairman", I find that in these times that title has been replaced by the title of " Chairperson."

The above title is now very widely used throughout nearly all organisations I find these days, and one I feel is very much a appropriate to the position held.

Rufus2 Thu 25-Apr-19 12:12:25

My mode of transport is Male ?

Good News Annie; Glad to see you and Fred are now an item and going out together. wink Freda and me are going out daily and receiving good wishes from "long-lost" neighbours.

Btw. did you like my suggestion of "Freddiebach?

sandelf Thu 25-Apr-19 11:32:05

Sorry I'm on the side of people who 'take the chair' or lead meetings, and ships are clearly it, not him or her.

Rufus2 Thu 25-Apr-19 11:31:52

"T'was on the good ship Inanimate.
The one without a fanny mate.

C'mon Phoenix! You can do better than that! I came up with that name in a hurry, thinking that someone would improve on it, but not to be! sad
In keeping with the main objective of "gender neutral" ships, how about " 'T'was on the good ship Eunuch. etc. etc….."? Although you may not know it, you show promise as a poet, and that one should give you greater scope with your rhymes! grin All we need now is a gender-neutral figure-head! How about foc'sle?

ReadyMeals Thu 25-Apr-19 11:23:30

I'd rather talk about people as "it" too. Why do we constantly have to be reminded about what type of genitals a person has when talking about them? It's irrelevant to most conversation.

LuckyFour Thu 25-Apr-19 11:21:18

Phoenix - you made me laugh out loud at your little rhyme. Read it to DH he just said 'uh'. No sense of humour, he's a mere male, poor thing.

GrandmaKT Thu 25-Apr-19 10:53:46

Well, I must admit it has always irked me a bit the way ships, boats and cars are referred to as "she". Not that I would go so far as defacing museum property of course!
Inanimate objects do not have a gender in English and I would rather refer to ships etc. as "it" in the same way as I would talk about a chair or a house.

ReadyMeals Thu 25-Apr-19 10:32:20

I don't mind gender-neutral but I am not keen on "they" instead of him or her as it's too easy to confuse with the plural meaning of the word. "It" is the gender neutral of him and her and I don't know why people can't be "it"s. Yes I know, it might sound rude, but while we're getting rid of the gender conventions what's wrong with throwing out the conventions pertaining to not calling people "it" ?

henetha Thu 25-Apr-19 10:06:35

Bonkers! The world is going mad!

polnan Thu 25-Apr-19 09:34:15

phoenix
grin
hilarious

notanan2 Wed 24-Apr-19 23:18:24

Male/female electricity connections = hetronormative genital centric cis privilidge connectors

Bellanonna Wed 24-Apr-19 22:54:00

Bathsheba ?

Mycatisahacker Wed 24-Apr-19 22:02:13

What a load of old bollocks!

Like cis woman! No no no I am a woman

Bathsheba Wed 24-Apr-19 22:00:43

Will I have to start saying that my parent tongue is English?

NanKate Wed 24-Apr-19 22:00:20

Give me strength ?

Cherrytree59 Wed 24-Apr-19 21:30:11

I suppose Alexa should be gender neutral.
However 'it' does have a female sounding voice.

As does the Satnav in the car how I wish it was a Billy Connelly

notanan2 Wed 24-Apr-19 21:19:58

We soon wont be allowed to say Mother Earth either.

notanan2 Wed 24-Apr-19 21:18:04

Some senior Naval bod phoned in to the Today programme to say what a load of old codswallop this is, the ships are like a "mother" to their crews, as they (the ships) provide a home for them and protect them while they are at sea.

Yeab but reverence of motherhood and what makes women women threatens some peoples agendas these days..

Bellanonna Wed 24-Apr-19 21:14:36

Well, boat and ship are both feminine in Italian, so will always be “she”.

absent Wed 24-Apr-19 21:00:12

Gender is a linguistic concept; sex is a biological concept. I really wish the two had never been conflated.

Callistemon Wed 24-Apr-19 20:07:19

pepsi grin

NanaandGrampy Wed 24-Apr-19 19:40:47

Now that made me laugh out loud Pepsi !! ??

pepsi5 Wed 24-Apr-19 17:36:45

Saw a great comment today, the ship apparently now identifies as a bus. Sums it up really.

maryeliza54 Wed 24-Apr-19 17:34:40

soda I’m only guessing here but the issues must be different because nouns have pre-existing genders. When we say ‘it’ they say elle or il which, depending on context means she/it or he/it so it’s not the same issue is it? Interesting to think about.

sodapop Wed 24-Apr-19 17:29:11

I did wonder what would happen in France with gender neutrality - any ideas