Why is a ship called a 'She'?

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Why is a ship called a 'She'?

Post by + Silver - Orbs + »

A Ship is called a 'she' because there is always a great deal of bustle around her;

there is usually a gang of men about , she has a waist and stays;

it takes a lot of paint to keep her good looking;

it is not the initial expense that breaks you, it is the upkeep;

she can be all decked out;

it takes an experienced man to handle her correctly;

and without a man at the helm, she is absolutely uncontrollable.

She shows her topsides, hides her bottom and, when coming into port, always heads for buoys.

x)
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Post by Akira »

ROFL :lol:
thats brilliant really funny
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Post by Glenn »

That was realy fun! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Post by dragonfly »

haha - and so true
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Post by + Silver - Orbs + »

Im some cases >.> I am nothing like that at all.

In the case of 'it takes a lot of paint to keep her good looking;' Im more 'it takes a lot of spiky and leather attire to keep her in place' :roll: Me and my dark sense of style
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Post by Akira »

LOL you have a brilliant sense of humour silv i cant stop laughing at this
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Post by Jishdefish »

Darn, I look and it's a joke, when I saw the subject I thought you didn't know.... Oh, well, that's what I get for being a bookworm... :shock:
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Post by vampirehunter42 »

That is a good joke, but it sounds like a good debate.


I think it may stem from the use of gender in other languages. As in some items are female or male in type. And as far as I can remember ships are female in at least French and Russian. I am looking for any reason but I can’t find one. But this link helps.
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Post by + Silver - Orbs + »

Also most Hurricanes are/were female
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Post by vampirehunter42 »

Not really they are about even. As in it goes male, female, male female and so on. Check it out here. Also living in South Georgia I can remember more male named hurricanes than female, off the top of my head.

Note: I had a debate like this with a former girlfriend about English not having gender in common language.
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Post by Chalgrish »

In Latin, navus (ship) is male...
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Post by vampirehunter42 »

That is odd. Most languages stem from Latin. Russian is from its own branch though. But french, Spanish and others like that are way down the line, so it there is a change that may be why. I can't find any of my language books.
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