Can someone please explain the gender factor in cars???
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Pit Crew
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 113
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From: X
Can someone please explain the gender factor in cars???
... Can someone explain something to me please, and yes... this is a serious question. If we all work and strive to set up our rides with agreesive looks and serious ***** under the hood... why do so many people refer to their cars as being of the female gender? I always here the words "she" & "her" when it comes to referring to their rides.I personally refer to my car as "it", but if I had to pick a gender for it, since I want to think of it as agressive and with *****, I would have to say it's a "he".
Anyways... I just wanted to get some idea as to why people call their cars "she" and "her". I never heard Michael Knight or the Duke Boys referring to K.I.T.T. and the General Lee as of the female gender, and they too were fans of agressive looks, speed, and *****. So just curious.
Thanks.
Lead Lap
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 573
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From: Michigan
I think it originates from sailors naming ships and referring to them as female... sounds about right.
I usually just refer to my car as "the LS" or "my Lexass". However, I did name my car shortly after purchase, and yes, it's a female name.
I usually just refer to my car as "the LS" or "my Lexass". However, I did name my car shortly after purchase, and yes, it's a female name.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,645
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From: Richmond
The concept of "Car holds people, female holds people." That's what I think for most people... For some though, it's because the car take more money and care from you than a girlfriend...
Well, it does come from the sea with ships gendered as females... Exactly why, I don't know...
Well, it does come from the sea with ships gendered as females... Exactly why, I don't know...
Therefore, when I tell people that I:
--Ride,
--Wash,
--Take care of,
--Pay a lot for,
--Baby,
--Abuse,
--Fill 'er up,
--Push,
--Modify, and etc...
...I (being male) would prefer to do such things to a feminine entity instead of a male entity. It has nothing to do with sexuality; it's just the idea of complementation: positive and negative, dark and light, masculine and feminine.
And although most cars have masculine characteristics (muscle cars & trucks, and techno-savvy vehicles in general), that doesn't mean that such characteristics cannot be feminine as well.
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Lexus Champion
Joined: Mar 2005
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From: CA
Cars are 'it,' usually among the general public I imagine, but among a subset of owners that anthropomorphize their vehicles, he or she might be like ships.
In some English-speaking naval traditions, a ship could be referred to as 'she'...however in French-speaking shipping, a ship could be referred to as 'he'...
In some English-speaking naval traditions, a ship could be referred to as 'she'...however in French-speaking shipping, a ship could be referred to as 'he'...
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Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jun 2006
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From: NV
It all started with the pilots during world war one and such. Pilots named their planes with ones normally of women. When soldiers returned it kinda stuck and from then on many referred to their cars as a women. Er something like that. Or at least thats what I saw on the history channel long time ago.
Lead Lap
Joined: Apr 2007
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From: md
My baby requires a lot of care and high maintenance, consumes a lot of time and money, has a feminine voice (navi) and yes, per the latest cadi commercials, she turns me on and I ride her hard.
Can any of these traits be applied to a "He"? only if your flaming.
Can any of these traits be applied to a "He"? only if your flaming.
Actually, if you think about it, creating a masculine/feminine object started when Romans languages were "born."
Ever noticed that Romans languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Romanian) give objects "genders"?
For example, in Spanish, it's a feminine la mesa for table, not el mesa.
Or in Italian, it's a masculine el giorno for day, not la giorno.
For some cultures, it would be normal to give an object a masculine or feminine culture. However, in the U.S, we typically don't do it because our language doesn't differentiate objects such as so. We consider some things masculine or feminine by its function, such as cars, tools, etc.
Ever noticed that Romans languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Romanian) give objects "genders"?
For example, in Spanish, it's a feminine la mesa for table, not el mesa.
Or in Italian, it's a masculine el giorno for day, not la giorno.
For some cultures, it would be normal to give an object a masculine or feminine culture. However, in the U.S, we typically don't do it because our language doesn't differentiate objects such as so. We consider some things masculine or feminine by its function, such as cars, tools, etc.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 5,285
Likes: 43
From: NV
Rant warning here and no offense intended to people who do it, but I hate it with a passion when people name their cars; I just think it's so dumb. A friend of mine who is a BMW head insists on giving each new car he gets a new female name, and he never refers to it by model or anything other than its name. And when he gets rid of a car he acts sad over losing "[insert female name]". It's never "my car", "my BMW", or "my 540i"; it's always the name he gave it. It gets to the point where when he starts talking about his car I tell him to shut the hell up before he can get to the name. A car is a thing, it's not a female, it's not your girlfriend, it's not going to have sex with you, get over it.
Last edited by gengar; Dec 2, 2007 at 09:00 AM.
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Rant warning here and no offense intended to people who do it, but I hate it with a passion when people name their cars; I just think it's so dumb. A friend of mine who is a BMW head insists on giving each new car he gets a new female name, and he never refers to it by model or anything other than its name. And when he gets rid of a car he acts sad over losing "[insert female name]". It's never "my car", "my BMW", or "my 540i"; it's always the name he gave it. It gets to the point where when he starts talking about his car I tell him to shut the hell up before he can get to the name. A car is a thing, it's not a female, it's not your girlfriend, it's not going to have sex with you, get over it.
If we all work and strive to set up our rides with agreesive looks and serious ***** under the hood... why do so many people refer to their cars as being of the female gender? ... I never heard Michael Knight or the Duke Boys referring to K.I.T.T. and the General Lee as of the female gender, and they too were fans of agressive looks, speed, and *****.
Actually, I'm no fan of referring to a car as 'she' or 'her'. Do owners of all types of vehicles do this, including giant pick-up trucks or exotics?
I don't have a steady classification for my cars. I've referred to the same car as a he or her differently even within the same post before. It just doesn't matter to me.
Overall it is a term of affection for the vehicle. I think it relates to different situations.
If you wax it and clean it up, you stand back and say "wow, she looks good".
If you just finished a race and stomped all over someone you might say "He's running like a champ".
I think our minds associate the looks of the vehicle when cleaned up and all spiffy to the female form looking good and the running of the vehicle when it is digging into 7k on the tach and pulling your head back as the ballsy powerful male area of the vehicle.
So I guess it can change from moment to moment, as it does for me.
Then you have moments like this one for me last week when my key fob died and it's flat out being a B%^CH
Overall it is a term of affection for the vehicle. I think it relates to different situations.
If you wax it and clean it up, you stand back and say "wow, she looks good".
If you just finished a race and stomped all over someone you might say "He's running like a champ".
I think our minds associate the looks of the vehicle when cleaned up and all spiffy to the female form looking good and the running of the vehicle when it is digging into 7k on the tach and pulling your head back as the ballsy powerful male area of the vehicle.
So I guess it can change from moment to moment, as it does for me.
Then you have moments like this one for me last week when my key fob died and it's flat out being a B%^CH