another inanimate "she"

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

trains were referred to as "she" in the 19th century, no? Maybe it makes more sense to see this as one of many nonce instances of personification, and that, in personification femme is the default category.
------Original Message------
From: Laurence Horn
Sender: ADS-L
To: ADS-L
ReplyTo: ADS-L
Subject: [ADS-L] another inanimate "she"
Sent: Jul 17, 2010 10:00 AM

Besides ships, cars, and countries, golf courses are apparently
female, or at least the links course at St. Andrews, where the
British Open is currently being contested.  The coverage has dwelled
on the semi-official moniker "The Old Girl" for the course, and there
has been talk of "the old girl's defenses" (or defences, in the
British press), of how whatever she gives you one day she'll snatch
back the next, and so on.  One piece predicted, falsely as it turned
out in the light of the windy conditions yesterday, that "the latest
equipment has pulled the old girl's teeth".

LH

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