So, I have always had an issue with grown men referring to their hobby cars as “she”. I honestly do not get the logic behind such a thing. My cars and trucks have always been thought of as male, and I learned that one of my buddies does the same thing. Why any adult male would want a female car is quite beyond me.
Take Stephen King’s “Christine”, for instance: Maybe if Arnie had named the car Bruce instead, it wouldn’t have killed him. Just saying. The whole idea of having a female machine drive me around makes me uncomfortable.
Check out the divorce rate, sometime. It proves beyond any doubt that relationships don’t work out, more times than not. But I have had friends for twenty years or more, and we are still very much friends to this day. Thinking of my cars and trucks as males, I think, guarantees a long-lasting friendship.
I have owned all kinds of cars: VWs, a ’68 Plymouth, a ’67 Fairlane, a ’76 Chevy ¾ ton, a sand rail, a station wagon, a Jeep Cherokee built for trails, an Impala, and even a boat. Not one of them has ever, for a single second, been female. I will never say things like, “She purrs like a kitten,” or, “Yea, my Jeep is hard to stop; she definitely gets the job done.” I think it’s borderline insanity to do so.
Cars that we enjoy and count on are our friends, not our lovers. If you feel sexually toward your vehicles, I recommend professional help. Also, I want video; I’m morbidly curious as to how that would work. As for me, I’ll keep calling my cars “friends”, and keep counting on them, year after year.
Why do you think it’s universally accepted that our cars are females? If you think about it long enough, it begins to make no sense whatsoever, at least for me. If I’m off-road in my Cherokee, the last thing I’m saying is, “C’mon, girl, you got this hill.” Ew. I hated even typing that.
Weird.
7 comments:
I think it relates back to boats traditionally being female, though come to think of it, that makes about as much sense.
Probably because ships are always 'she'. The origins for this go back a long way in time. Here are a few theories:
1. In the Romance languages, the word "ship" is always in the feminine. Thus, Mediterranean sailors referred to their ship as "she", and the practice spread to English-speaking counterparts.
2. One source suggests that a ship "was nearer and dearer to the sailor than anyone except his mother." or because a ship carries, protects, and eventually delivers her cargo or passengers as does a mother with her child. What better reason to call his ship "she"?
"I want video" just like a guy...always the visual! ;)
Exhaust pipe, that's how it works.
LOL, Marjorie, I had the same thought. I suppose ripped upholstery may work, too...
I've never really thought about it, but I'm guessing because a lot of guys handle their vehicles with care. Smart guys handle women with care as well, so maybe that's where it originated.
It comes from languages that use a gender for common nouns.
Post a Comment