look who is referring to the US as a 'she'

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page.html



"... America receives very good ROI on her foreign aid money to Israel as she pursues our joint common interests in the Middle East. If Israel-United States relations should ever come a cropper, the US had better leave the Middle East ..." - Miss_Faucie_Fishtits
-------------

on home pg. scroll down,rgt. side

its always interesting to see who refers to the US as female and in what context. neo cons do it frequently.

and I think Miss Fishtits is a mister.

(if you must give the US a sex then it has to be hermaphrodite, lol)

[Captain Hilts]

1. Countries referred to as 'she' drives me nuts. Would for 'he', also. It's an 'it'. nt

[Ron Green]

2. I prefer "they." Pluralism is more accurate (and helpful.)

[whathehell]

3. Why does it bother you to see the country referrred to as "she"?

If I'm not mistaken, most people refer to their countries as "she" as in "motherland".

The only exception I know of was Hitler who insisted Germany be referred to as "The Fatherland"

[Captain Hilts]

4. What purpose does it serve? I don't assign sex to my car, etc. nt

[SIMPLYB1980]

9. All of my cars have been female.

I don't see the big deal in this.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Swinton-Insurance-1050863.html

"80% Drivers Give 'Pet Name' To Their Car.

When choosing a name the most important factor was the car colour, followed by the manufacturer. Not surprisingly 13% of names were influenced by a favorite celebrity and 4% admitted naming their car after a previous lover.

The poll also uncovered that 81% of male drivers referred to their car as being female and 91% of women referred to their car as being male.

Some of the strangest car names that came out of the poll were: Black Beauty, Bettie Banana, Tin Tin and Road Runner."

I kinda like our country being referred to as a she.

[whathehell]

24. No, I don't see it serving any "purpose" either

It just seems to be a traditional thing...I guess I just don't see the offense in it.:shrug:

I once had a friend who assigned NAMES to her posessions..Her car ("Sunshine"), even her coat,("Harvey")

[appamado amata padam]

5. Maybe not as common now, but that had long been

pretty standard to refer to countries as "she," or its resources as "hers." It has been especially predominate in military histories, for example, "She could launch the finest navy," or "her fields lay plundered," etc.

I think it hearkens back to the times when women were thought of as "the fair sex," and the attendant deference and respect as such were figuratively extended to nations as political entities.

You may be right that it is mostly neocons that do it now; though I wonder if it's as much due to merely steeping themselves in military lore, as any sexist intent.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Around here we still call boats "she." Not sure if I have heard it applied to the country lately,

though.

[ensho]

7. that drives me mad too. I've owned and lived on two boats and

didn't let anyone refer to them as she.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. I used to hear lobstermen refer to them that way all the time as a kid. "How's she comin' along?"

"Well, she'll be good as new once we scrape the hull down and patch her up."

"Ayuh? Sounds good."


I never really thought about it as sexism. In fact, given how revered boats are around here it always seemed more like a compliment, particularly since so many are named after wives, daughters, and mothers. It just made sense to call a boat named Christi-Anne a "she."

I can see, though, that people who live in other areas would see it as sexist to equate a woman with property and vice versa.

[appamado amata padam]

13. Yes, it is pretty old-fashioned -

I think part of the reason it was done so much in the past was that it made for more dramatic reading. Soldiers could be admonished to fight for their "Mother" countries, or "Sister" allies, etc.

And, just reaching here, I wonder if the fact that most European languages assign gender to nouns had anything to do with it. Maybe someone with more expertise may know...

[Recursion]

20. I've always heard the USA called "she"

I didn't realize this wasn't common. The nation's personification even has a name, Columbia.

[ensho]

8. its sexist

women used to be property owned by men. and in some places on our world women are still the property of men.

[appamado amata padam]

21. I'll meet you halfway -

I can somewhat understand the offense taken at property referred to as "she," but even then, most people are just expressing their "affection" for the object (names for cars, etc.).

However, nations being referred to as "she," etc. usually applies to the abstract concept of a political entity, not property. Maybe this happens much more in verbal media, but overall, counries are also represented as male figures (political cartoons). I don't know who the poster in the referenced site is, but in general, I don't really see the sexism here.

[Ozymanithrax]

11. If we consider Florida to be a prick and Texas the scrotum, it would be a man..

But she goes back at least to "God Bless America"

God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains To the prairies,
To the ocean white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

[ensho]

12. that song was written when women were the property of men

I never liked it either and fussed at my mother about it. her answers were always the same - 'that's just the way it is'

[Ozymanithrax]

19. Many countires are considered "male" Germany was the Fatherland.

I don't think it has anything to do with women as property but with cultural concepts of nationhood or language. England and Russia were each called the "motherland" and the US seems to follow in that mold. Germany was the Fatherland and male. This possibly goes back when the English language still used Gender like Spanish or latin, where all nouns have Gender.

[SIMPLYB1980]

17. Goes back further than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki#History

"The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and twenty-six other local villages<8> He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great (Thessalo-nikē means the " Thessalian victory")<9> (See Battle of Crocus field). It was an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonica became a city of the Roman Republic. It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia and facilitating trade between Europe and Asia. The city became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia."

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/138475_greek-mythology-gods-goddesses-the-city-of-athens-and-greek-goddess-athena

"Greek Mythology Gods and Goddesses series - 3. Athens is a wonderful city in Greece. It is an ancient city and always inhabited. Dating back to 5th century BC, it is a city of one of the world’s most important civilizations. Its name has a story involving Greek goddess Athena in Greek Mythology.

The myth behind the name of the city of Athens is the story of a Greek goddess. This goddess is Athena. Athens is named after goddess Athena in Greek Mythology. She was the daughter of the king of gods, Zeus.

She was strong, fair and merciful, and also goddess of wisdom. Her birth has a legend which was unusual. It is an amazing story."

[donheld]

26. Would Alaska be the ass?

[DavidDvorkin]

14. Still a very common usage. It has no significance.

[ensho]

15. no, it has a lot of significance

nt

[Captain Hilts]

22. "No significance." To a man. It does to me. nt

[Hekate]

16. Common usage in English. Other languages are highly gendered, so every noun is he or she, seldom it

Studies have been done to see how this influences the way the speakers think about the world around them.

But as you see, even in our American English language, gender is sometimes assigned to objects (such as ships and countries) that in fact are neither male nor female.

Hekate

[Captain Hilts]

23. It's not much used by anyone under the age of 50, actually.

I work in foreign affairs and have graduate degrees in such.

I can count on one hand the professors, etc. that referred to a country as 'she' rather than 'it'.

It's archaic.

I don't like to think of German as being male or the US as being female, or the other way around. Countries don't have a sex or reflect the stereotyped behavior characteristics of either sex.

[Hekate]

28. How a people views the world around them is still embedded in their speech...

The traditional Hopi concepts of time being probably the most notorious example.

It may be archaic -- time passes even in the groves of academe, where an historical artifact ;-) may be preserved like a fly in amber longer than it continues to live in the world outside.

Hekate

[BuyingThyme]

18. Is that no longer PC?

I guess I'm old or something.

[Captain Hilts]

25. It's just weird and has dramatically fallen out of favor the past 25 years.

I rarely heard it in either the US or Canada while pursuing graduate degrees in foreign affairs.

[Captain Hilts]

27. It's like referring to female college students as 'coeds'. Not offensive, but archaic. Dated. nt