Why do they refer to submarines as female?

Why are cars and guitars female?

I only refer to objects as feminine / masculine when speaking French.

All ships are referred to as ‘she” or ‘her,’ it’s just an ancient maritime tradition.

Because they’re beautiful yet deadly & occasionally filled with se-men ;¬}

Just remembered, back in ancient times (Can’t remember if origin is Greek, Roman, or Celtic) ships were dedicated to a goddess, and were considered to be like a protective and guiding mother.

@Winters That’s a nice version actually… I was beginning to think after your first response that it might be keeping with the tradition of keeping women in their place… men handling a ship..the analogy strikes me as quite potent… still even with the latter addition of it being a goddess…it does seem to be that the man is taming and in control of an infinite ethereal force…perhaps trying to reclaim their position in the world no…? Or maybe it’s to make them feel better about killing lots of ‘innocent’ people through war…hmmm

However…the fact of the matter is all pointed things are generally considered male and one cannot deny the fact that ships and submarines are….a force that drives through the water…:-)

Because sailors don’t want to go down on a man.

Why are countries referred to as “she?”

Cars? Trains? Motorbikes? Trailers? Quads? Normal ships? Speedboats? Guns? Occasionally knives?

Because men like them. :D

That was a joke^, i don’t know why, im just saying it’s much more than submarines

@shniernan yep…there’s a definite thread running through it to do with men using tools (for pleasure and pain) and weapons as a symbol for power and control of women…thing going on isn’t there…

@lynneblundell hahaha, nicely put. But I’m one of the guys that admit, though it be grudgingly, that women are superior at least genetically (talking about chromosomes here). Otherwise, I feel it should be a level playing field… ish. lol

your respect is noted and taken humbly xxxx

English is foundationally a Germanic languge with low German heritage But today high German and modern Englsh still have wlords that sound alike, e.g,, Haus, and house, Buch and book, Milch and milk, Vater and Father, Brot and bread, Hand and hand; Hertz and heart,Schuh and shoe. Yes our English long absorbed many thousands of French words with their Latin roots. Wiilliam the Conqueror was French. England’s Parliament was held in French for two hundred years. The influence of Greek through science and classical literature also made a great contribution to the English we speak. Many European languages have gendered nouns, and the gender is not determined on any scientific rbasis, but rather, for each of those languages, an imputed gender prevailes, sometimes ascribing gender for the same word quite differenly from language to language. And some words are deemed to have no gender, so in German there is the masculine der, the feminine die, and the neuter das as the article the in English. But listen carefully, and you might hear American men talk about their cars in the feminine, “She’s a beatuy.” And whale hunters used the sentenece, “Thar she blows!” Etc. So Engine submits genderized nouns are a holdover from old English, not completely gone yet. There are others.

@Engine Thank you… I take it then that submarine is feminine in at least one of these languages?

Military submarines in the US are usually named after states or former presidents. If they are female, they must be disappointed in their names.