Re: Nomenclature

[Jeff Bailey]

On Tue, Nov 14, 2000 at 07:10:43PM +0000, David Coquil wrote:

> > In french, I say "Le Hurd", as if Hurd was male.
> 
> I thought about replying the same, but I think that apart from
> "cross-language compatibility" ;-) French language is not really relevant
> here : in French substantives have male or female gender whereas in German
> they can be male, female or neutral (e.g.) one more to choose from!
> 
> As for French I think 'le Hurd' makes sense since in English it's mostly
> "the Hurd", and 'la Hurd' (female) just sounds too bad.

I remember talking with a friend of mine and ranting how I could never 
really figure out whether something was male of female in French, and 
after 10 years in immersion I still got them wrong sometimes.  She told 
me a rule that her mother had taught her (Native French Speaker), in 
general if it has legs or you can enter it, it's probably female... 

-- 
No matter how big the bell, if you only tap it, it can give out only a
faint sound.  We must understand thoroughly that the weakness of the blow,
not a fault of the bell makes the sound poor. 
 - Koichi Tohei