[Ads-l] locomotives as female (UNCLASSIFIED)

Sat Apr 18 18:23:16 UTC 2015

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 - =
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> >=20
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> > Caveats: NONE
> >=20
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