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| She Traditionally, all boats and ships are referred to as female. On March, 2002, Lloyd's List has opted to refer to ships as "it" rather than the customary "she", choosing to view them as "commodities…not things that have characters." Ships have been referred to as a "she" because, according to the US Naval Historical Center, it has always been customary to personify certain inanimate objects and attribute to them characteristics of living creatures. Objects can be masculine, as the sun, winter and death are often personified, or feminine, especially those things that are dear to us, such as the mother Earth. In languages that use gender for common nouns, boats, ships, etc. are usually referred to in the feminine form, and early seafarers spoke of their ships in feminine gender to indicate close dependence for life and sustenance. The tradition of referring to sailing vessel as "she" dates back to the mariners of Ancient Greece. |