[Ads-l] locomotives as female (UNCLASSIFIED)

Sat Apr 18 18:29:26 UTC 2015

If I remember correctly from the Grammatica Speculativa, they are regarded as passive objects, and, hence, feminine.

Kate

On Apr 18, 2015, at 11:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: locomotives as female (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Big moving things like ships, aircraft,  and locomotives generally are
> female.
> 
> If memory serves, this has been true since Middle English.
> 
> At least of ships.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: locomotives as female (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>>> On Apr 17, 2015, at 1:06 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) =
>> <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL> wrote:
>>> =20
>>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>> Caveats: NONE
>>> =20
>>> Wabash Cannonball is a girl:
>> 
>> But isn't the Wabash Cannonball the train, rather than just the =
>> locomotive/engine?  Engine Number 49 on the A/T/SF is an engine to be =
>> sure, but the Cannonball seems to be the train.  And what *is* the south =
>> bell by the shore?  Other versions have it as "south belt", which =
>> doesn't help, and still others reanalyze the line more radically, e.g. =
>> "=46rom the great Atlantic ocean to the wide Pacific shore/She climbs =
>> flowery mountain, o'r hills and by the shore" (Carter Family) or "...the =
>> green and growing mountains/and the south belt by the shore" (U. Utah =
>> Phillips).   =20
>> 
>> 
>> Then there's that familiar refrain:=20
>> 
>> Listen to the jingle
>> The rumble and the roar
>> As she glides along the woodlands
>> Through the hills and by the shore
>> Hear the mighty rush of the engine
>> Hear that lonesome hoboes' squall
>> You're travelin' through the jungles
>> On the Wabash Cannonball  =20
>> [Roy Acuff version]
>> 
>> In each version, the engine (unsexed) is a proper subpart of the train =
>> (+ fem)
>> 
>> It may be interesting to note that (at least IRT) subways are also =
>> female (although later neuter). (We have no evidence for the gender of =
>> IND and BMT trains.)
>> 
>> GEORGIE AND THE IRT
>> 
>> Along came the IRT, a'cannon ballin' through
>> =46rom 242nd Street to Flatbush Avenue
>> At 5:15 one Friday Eve, she pulled into Times Square
>> The people all filled the station, and Georgie he was there.
>> 
>> The people all filled the station, they milled and massed around
>> And Georgie looked upon that train and it was Brooklyn bound
>> He vowed at once that train to board, the weekend not to roam
>> For Georgie was a shipping clerk and Brooklyn was his home.
>> 
>> The people all filled the station, a million head or more
>> George used his elbows and his knees until he reached the door
>> But when he reached those portals, he could not take the gaff
>> The conductor shut the door on him and cut poor George in half
>> 
>> The train pulled out of Times Square, the swiftest on the line
>> It carried poor George's head along, but it left his body behind
>> Poor Georgie died a hero's death, a martyr plain to see
>> And the very last words poor Georgie said were "Screw the IRT"
>> 
>> --recorded by Dave Van Ronk, words by Lawrence Block, tune from Engine =
>> 143
>> cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DM7lcOHE3Or4 for a rendition
>> 
>> [I've left the fifth verse untranscribed so as not to spoil the =
>> suspense]
>> 
>> 
>> LH
>> 
>>> =20
>>> " =46rom the great Atlantic ocean to the wide Pacific shore
>>> =46rom the queen of flowing mountain to the south bell by the shore
>>> She's mighty tall and handsome and know quite well by all
>>> She's the combination on the Wabash Cannonball"
>>> =20
>>> Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe is a girl:
>>> =20
>>> "Do you hear that whistle down the line?
>>> I figure that it's Engine Number 49
>>> She's the only one that'll sound that way
>>> On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> City of New Orleans is a boy:
>>> =20
>>> "Good morning America how are you?
>>> Don't you know me I'm your native son,
>>> I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
>>> I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done."
>>> =20
>>> The Chattanooga Choo Choo's gender is not stated (at least, not by =
>> Glenn Miller).
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>>>> Behalf Of Herb Stahlke
>>>> Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 10:20 AM
>>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>> Subject: locomotives as female
>>>> =20
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header =
>> ---------------
>>>> --------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      locomotives as female
>>>> =
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> --------
>>>> =20
>>>> My nephew, who is a great train buff, the other day referred to a
>>>> locomotive as "her."   I asked about the gender, and he said it's
>>>> conventional to refer to locomotives as feminine.
>>>> =20
>>>> New one for me.
>>>> =20
>>>> Herb
>>>> =20
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialect.=
>> org&d=3DAwIFAg&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsS=
>> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DFbBIWfV3-KM_9oQQXAFsL0FS6Vy03SBqOetaMMznWu0&s=3DUFwXn8=
>> _jC6FHXNuhVojhDMa2PCSNBQRox4fxJkd5_14&e=3D=20
>>> =20
>>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>> Caveats: NONE
>>> =20
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialect.=
>> org&d=3DAwIFAg&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsS=
>> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DFbBIWfV3-KM_9oQQXAFsL0FS6Vy03SBqOetaMMznWu0&s=3DUFwXn8=
>> _jC6FHXNuhVojhDMa2PCSNBQRox4fxJkd5_14&e=3D=20
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org