RE: Question to all Americans: why do you refer to vehicles and ships as "she"?
July 13, 2015 at 12:24 pm
The concept is known as "personification," in which people attribute human characteristics to nonhuman things. This occurs in many, and perhaps all, cultures. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism
For the specific example of ships, the British have used "she" as well, which can be seen from this:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defini...nglish/she
This has been going on for hundreds of years (at least).
Here is an article about this specific topic:
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/12/ships.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism
For the specific example of ships, the British have used "she" as well, which can be seen from this:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defini...nglish/she
This has been going on for hundreds of years (at least).
Here is an article about this specific topic:
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/12/ships.html
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
