Gender for a boat & an expression

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Gender for a boat & an expression
Message de biglo posté le 20-05-2005 à 12:52:36 (S | E | F | I)
Hi there,

I have two questions about English. First of all, it is about the gender of a boat. Actually I am reading a novel and in the story there is a boat named "Olympic Voyager". When the author refers to it, he uses "she" eg "I don't think she is in the Med". Is every boat considered as a female??

My second question is about an expression I heard in TV Shows like Friends. It seems like "holy moly!". I believe it means "oh my god" or "damn it". Is it the right spelling and meaning?

Thanks in advance.
Jonathan

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de bridg, postée le 20-05-2005 à 13:28:09 (S | E)
1/You're right, but sometimes when they get affective links with things or animals, English people are used to employing "he " or "she"

2/Holly molly, I don't find in my slang American dictionary, sorry

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de biglo, postée le 20-05-2005 à 17:03:20 (S | E)
Hi Bridg and thanks for your answer.

1/ It is usual for a pet to consider it like a person but I never noticed that for an object, and especially for a boat What I don't understand now is why it is "she" and not "he"? If the name of the boat was a girl name for example, I would understand. But Olympic Voyager looks so male

2/ I've googled a bit and found several sentences like "Holy moly it works" but I still don't know what it really means.

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de bridg, postée le 20-05-2005 à 17:16:33 (S | E)
1/Don't you think it's a romantic appellation ? the captain has been in love with his boat as with a wife

2/ I've another slangs with "holly ... " but not that one

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de biglo, postée le 20-05-2005 à 17:22:48 (S | E)
1/ In fact, it is not the captain who is speaking There is a nuclear bomb aboard, and so the FBI and the US government is trying to localize this boat. In this case, I don't think they fell in love with it

2/ I guess I know at least one of them too

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de bridg, postée le 20-05-2005 à 17:26:46 (S | E)
you're right,I don't think about a love affair too

No, in fact I am reading in my grammar : When you like very much a car, a moto, a boat .. "she" could be used instead of "it" .

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de biglo, postée le 20-05-2005 à 18:00:59 (S | E)
Okay thank you. So only "she" and never "he"?

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de alexgowes, postée le 20-05-2005 à 18:44:23 (S | E)
Boats, cars, and aeroplanes are often referred to as "she". It's about the only situation in English where inanimate objects are spoken of as if they had a gender. Why something as big as a boat would be considered feminine is beyond me.

"Holy moly" an expression of surprise (and of course the words rhyme).

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de biglo, postée le 20-05-2005 à 19:01:43 (S | E)
Thanks for your answer alexgowes, everything is clear now

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de traviskidd, postée le 21-05-2005 à 04:31:12 (S | E)
Actually, countries are also sometimes referred to as "she".

France was unhappy with England's king, and she sought to do something about it.

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de swimminlee89, postée le 22-05-2005 à 15:52:05 (S | E)
1. Countries, boats, and other important inanimate objects can be referred to as "she." Why? Perhaps because old boats often had a figurehead of a woman--a mermaid or a goddess--at the prow, supposedly to protect the boat. This is somewhat archaic and increasingly people use "it."

An interesting fact: hurricans used to be named only after women--the hurricane agency had a list of one female name for every letter of the alphabet, and used them in order for each new storm--but then around the time of the gender-equality movement, male names were added. Now the list alternates between male and female names. That's why we have Hurricane Isabel and also Hurricane Floyd. They are referred to as "he" or "she" as well.

2. Holy moly! is like Oh golly! or Oh my! or Gee Whiz!--it is a mild expression of surprise.

Réponse: Gender for a boat & an expression de biglo, postée le 26-05-2005 à 22:06:35 (S | E)
Thank you both swimminlee89 and traviskidd for these further details.

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