Why is a ship called a she?

[Chessman]

Just trying to get away from the serious stuff for a bit, got this from a nautical shop. dates from at least the 18th century. Just wanted to share it with you.

A ship is 'she' because there is always a great deal of bustle around her; there is usually a gang of men about; she has waists and stays; it takes a lot of paint to keep her good looking; it is not the initial expense that breaks you, it is the upkeep; it takes an experienced man to handle her; and without a man at the helm, she is absolutely uncontrollable; she shows her topsides, hides her bottom, and, when coming into port, always heads for the buoys.

So now you know.

[Gill 05]

bit sexist is it not?

[jacko50]

for god sake gill05 he/she did say it was from the 18th century ,he/she didn't say he /she agreed with it ,it is just to let us see how men thought of women in those days.just to wind you up ,thats how i still think of women.

[jacko50]

I was joking about the last bit was i not.

[beerbelly]

and it applies just as much today as it did then !!!!! lol

[mimififi]

Is it not also because it was manned by a male crew, they just liked the fantasy of sailing around in a woman after being away from the one they had in every port? That is why all the nautical lingo is female, kinda self perpetuating.

Why then are cars and other peices of technology still referred to as she? Is it just a hang up from the past? Or is it because men still dominate that area of specialty?

My husband referrs to his big servers that he keeps his systems on as 'she'...and that's not just because they are temperamental and only work if you speak nicely to them. :-)

[Gill 05]

for God sake jacko50 lighten up I was joking.

[jodie1404]

because it gets wet, and filled with seamen!

[dove]

because "shes" are most reliable and are commonly known not to go down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jacko50]

gill05,well you should have said .

[Quizmonster]

In the improbable event that anyone here wants to know the actual answer, here it is...

In Old English, nouns still had gender...that is, they were masculine, feminine or neuter, just as they still are in German, for instance. When using appropriate pronouns, these would be he, she and it, respectively. When that system broke up, 'it' was used as the pronoun to refer to all nouns. However, some things considered somehow especially masculine were still referred to as 'he' for a long time afterwards - eg mountains, oak-trees etc - and others were still referred to as 'she' - eg boats, carriages etc.
The use of 'she' for a ship, for example, is at least as old as the 14th century in �modern' English and it was the same in Roman times. This may have been because their ships were dedicated often to goddesses, who were possibly the first figureheads carved on ships' prows. Even before that, in the language of the ancient Babylonians, �boat' was a feminine word, just as it was in Biblical Hebrew. That means Noah's �ark' was a feminine word, as boat is today in Italian and Arabic. ( The French - typically! - have masculine ships and the Germans have neuter ones.)
The answer to the question as to why ships are called �she' is, therefore, a combination of language-development and history.
Cheers