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Author Topic: airplane: he or she  (Read 795 times)

Offline spitfiremkv

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airplane: he or she
« on: May 21, 2005, 07:13:58 PM »
Do you refer to an aircraft by 'he' or 'she'?
Most people refer to airplanes as a 'she', but I think of them as masculine for some reason, except for the B17 which I think of as a 'she'.
But fighters, I find it hard to refer to the Glacier Girl, for instance as a she. It's just weird.
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Offline Sp4de

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2005, 07:24:20 PM »
"it"
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Offline Raptor

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2005, 08:04:32 PM »
most nose art names gives the plane a girls name (actually, i cant think of any with a guy's name), so I would say "she"
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Offline john9001

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2005, 09:27:25 PM »
cars, boats and airoplanes have no sex, they are all "it"
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Offline spitfiremkv

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2005, 09:34:26 PM »
most people call boats and airplanes 'she'.
I tend to think of boats as 'she' and airplanes as 'he'.
people get attached to these vehicles and they can't call them 'it' anymore.
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Offline Angus

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2005, 08:57:37 AM »
They're ladies ;)
Just like yachts.
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It was very interesting to carry out the flight trials at Rechlin with the Spitfire and the Hurricane. Both types are very simple to fly compared to our aircraft, and childishly easy to take-off and land. (Werner Mölders)

Offline Maverick

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2005, 10:47:08 AM »
My old Comanche was definately a she. If I didn't pay enough attention to it she would break something. Sometimes she'd wait until we were on the way home from the annual inspection and break something or just glitch out the landing gear temporarily. We went over the gear with a fine tooth comb but never did find that gremlin. When she was being nice she was a real sweetheart. When she was in a bad mood she was a real *****.
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Offline Pooh21

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2005, 01:47:49 PM »
She cause they are yummy

B-17s
P-39s
110s
109s
190s
hurris


unless its a spit(VI+),nik or lala, then its a s/he cause they all outflame Richard Simmons
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Offline AKFokerFoder+

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #8 on: May 22, 2005, 03:09:32 PM »
An Airplane being a ship of the sky is usually referred to as “she” or “her.”

In the American language, it is also acceptable to refer to an airplane in the neuter gender.  I am not sure of the gender usage in English speaking countries, as I am not that familiar with the English language.  Although I love their country, and the Brits are fun people, and they make good beer. You just have a hard time translating what they are saying sometimes, especially with a couple of pints in them :)  Also, they spell things funny, like Centre.

I often refer to my plane in the neuter gender; such as “You @#$@$ piece of S#*(^  !!!!!”
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Offline HoHun

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Re: airplane: he or she
« Reply #9 on: May 22, 2005, 03:12:40 PM »
Hi Spitfiremkv,

>Do you refer to an aircraft by 'he' or 'she'?

I'm sure there is an ancient convention in English, too, that requres reference to (named) ships in female gender. This convention often is extended to aircraft as well.

In German, it's the same. However, as German is not as systematical as English in gender allocation, it's slightly more confusing as for example "Komet" ("Comet") is usually "he", but when used as aircraft name becomes "she".

In German, messing this up is a tell-tale sign of laymanship :-)

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)
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Offline AKFokerFoder+

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Re: airplane: he or she
« Reply #10 on: May 22, 2005, 03:14:50 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by spitfiremkv
but I think of them as masculine for some reason, except for the B17 which I think of as a 'she'.
But fighters, I find it hard to refer to the Glacier Girl, for instance as a she. It's just weird.


You may want to talk to your therapist about this.  There may some gender confusion issues you need to work out.  :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl
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Offline spitfiremkv

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #11 on: May 22, 2005, 04:44:58 PM »
maybe you should give me a 'hand'
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Offline Holden McGroin

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2005, 12:03:32 AM »
el aeroplano. l'aeroplano

it's masculine in the latin derived languages.
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Offline Angus

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2005, 08:30:51 AM »
Hehe, the German language also refers to a girl as "it" because of the grammar rules, - Madchen is "it" because it ends with "chen", and everything ending with "chen" is "it"


It, the Girl :D
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It was very interesting to carry out the flight trials at Rechlin with the Spitfire and the Hurricane. Both types are very simple to fly compared to our aircraft, and childishly easy to take-off and land. (Werner Mölders)

Offline Guppy35

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airplane: he or she
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2005, 01:55:04 PM »
"She"  A picture is worth a thousand words :)  The 51 image of "The Enchantress" shows it clearly

My favorite fighter pilot book is called "Nanette" by Edwards Park.  He describes it as his love affair with that P39 he called Nanette.


Dan/CorkyJr
« Last Edit: May 23, 2005, 01:57:14 PM by Guppy35 »
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