more gendered inanimates

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Thu Dec 9 04:01:03 UTC 2010


Besides ships and countries, apparently church bells are
traditionally female, at least in traditional usage in English
churches as depicted in Sayers's change-ringing novel _The Nine
Tailors_ (1934).  Even the bells with boy names (Tailor Paul, Batty
Thomas [for its donor, Abbot Thomas]) are "she" and "her".

LH

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