Idiom question

[Victoria Neufeldt]

Me too, I guess, back in Saskatchewan, Canada a long time ago.  And even
later, when we knew better, we routinely referred to dogs as "he" and cats
as "she".

Victoria

Merriam-Webster, Inc. P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102
Tel: 413-734-3134  ext 124
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Natalie Maynor
> Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2000 2:30 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Idiom question
>
>
> Mike Salovesh wrote:
>
> > Yes, in U.S. English there is a bias toward thinking that generic "dog"
> > implies male.  Listen, for example, to the frequent use of the pronoun
> > "he" for any canine without regard to the animal's actual sex.  "Cat",
> > on the other hand, often implies "female" even if used as a generic --
>
> For the first five or so years of my life, I thought that dogs were
> males and cats were females.  Then our dog had puppies.
>    --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)
>
> PS: I also thought that ponies were baby horses.
>