Dawn French Fan Club 3

In an elementary school lesson, a little girl in the class raised her hand and said: “I just learned that Jonah in the bible was swallowed by a whale.”
The teacher explained that it is physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it is a very large mammal, its throat is very small.
The girl did not believe him and replied, "I am almost certain Jonah was swallowed by a whale."
"I am telling you, it is not possible," replied the teacher.
The little girl raised her hand again. "My Sunday school teacher told me Jonah was swallowed by a whale and she would not lie to me.”
Frustrated, the teacher replied, "That is a 'story' from the bible, it is not factual, and I will not argue with you anymore."
After a little thought, the girl finally responded, "Well, when I get to heaven, I will ask Jonah myself".
In an attempt to fluster the little girl, the teacher replied, "What if Jonah didn’t go to heaven?"
The girl quickly responded," OK, then YOU ask him."

gerardM a écrit:

So that’s why she bites.




How to Find a Common Language With Your Cat
So that’s why she bites.

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> So that’s why she bites.
People often say English is simple as it doesn't have "gender" articles except for obvious animals.
Not exactly the case.
As we can see here, English people use "she" for cats.

every noun was treated as either masculine, feminine or neuter, existed in Old English, but fell out of use during the Middle English period. Modern English retains features relating to natural gender,

Gender in Old English
Old English had a system of grammatical gender similar to that of modern German, with three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter. Determiners and attributive adjectives showed gender inflection in agreement with the noun they modified. Also the nouns themselves followed different declension patterns depending on their gender. Moreover, the third-person personal pronouns, as well as interrogative and relative pronouns, were chosen according to the grammatical gender of their antecedent.

Old English grammatical gender was remarkably opaque

(Wikipedia)

Traditionally, oceans, countries, and ships, even those named after men such as USS Barry, have been referred to using the feminine pronouns.

Gérard I have just read an article about why the English use "she" for cats ?
http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.fr/2016/05/why-are-dogs-he-and-cats-she.html

Cats however were a different case. Cats aren’t trainable and prefer to please themselves rather than their mistress. This was strongly frowned upon by the Victorian male who expected obedience from everyone in his household, and upright moral behavior was treasured above all else.


An independent spirit was seen as rebellious, even in an animal. To make matters worse, cats have a habit of escaping and finding a mate, which according to the perceived wisdom of the day meant they were promiscuous.
 

The character of a cat was likened to that of a prostitute

According to the judgmental Victorian male, the cats’ characteristics of independence (read rebellion) and promiscuity made them akin to prostitutes, and the worst sort of advertisement for feminine wiles. In short, cats became strongly associated with the worst aspect of female behavior and acquired the female pronoun.



Thus dogs became ‘he’ and cats ‘she’. 

The explanation is not so flattering is it ?

Thanks for the nice picture

Are explanations similar for ships (Behaving wildly in the storms)?

Did you read the Wikipedia page explaning how in was in Old English? Worse than in German.

Gérard I have found one explanation for the ship being "she"
http://www.boatsafe.com/kids/kidsquesshe.htm

One source suggests that a ship "was nearer and dearer to the sailor than anyone except his mother." What better reason to call his ship "she"?

MurielB a écrit:Gérard I have found one explanation for the ship being "she"
http://www.boatsafe.com/kids/kidsquesshe.htm

One source suggests that a ship "was nearer and dearer to the sailor than anyone except his mother." What better reason to call his ship "she"?

Thank you Muriel.

in the Romance languages, the word for "ship" is always in the feminine.

French may not be a Romance language...

gerardM a écrit:

Massage these stress points to immediately relax a fussy or crying baby
The feet are connected to various parts of the body. Massaging them can work wonders!

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Gérard I didn't know these stress points in a crying baby. I only know this little song where you only press the other side of the foot.

MurielB a écrit:Gérard I didn't know these stress points in a crying baby. I only know this little song where you only press the other side of the foot.

Thanks for this nursery rhymes Muriel (someone near me was very pleased hearing this ).

gerardM a écrit:

MurielB a écrit:Gérard I didn't know these stress points in a crying baby. I only know this little song where you only press the other side of the foot.

Thanks for this nursery rhymes Muriel (someone near me was very pleased hearing this ).

I am very pleased about that Gérard. I guess that it is one the twins.

MurielB a écrit:

gerardM a écrit:Thanks for this nursery rhymes Muriel (someone near me was very pleased hearing this ).

I am very pleased about that Gérard. I guess that it is one the twins.  

No Muriel, I was speaking about KrystynaD who could remember her primary school years