NWAA330 From United States of America, joined Jun 2003, 204 posts, RR: 1 Posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1733 times:
I have an extrodinarily weird question. Something that probably shouldn't even be asked but I'm just curious. Many people refer to aircraft or cars or whatever as if they have a sex (Looking on as she gracefully rotates) etc. My question is which a/c do you think look male and which look female? Again weird I know but just had to ask.
Goose From Canada, joined Aug 2003, 1840 posts, RR: 17 Reply 1, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1695 times:
I don't think the assigning of a sex to a car or airplane is so much based on appearance....
Personnally, I refer to aircraft as female. I also refer to cars as female for a similar reason. Why? Because they're inherantly tempermental. You have to be nice and coax them to get them to do what you want...
Sometimes an aircraft just won't do what you want at all.... and you're left really not knowing why. It just seems to happen without any signs or warning.
Now, you can probably see the similarity with the female of the species.....
NWAA330 From United States of America, joined Jun 2003, 204 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1661 times:
Goose,
I agree with you 100% but I think that certain A/C such as this CX A340 look female while say a 744 looks male. Just a weird opinion.
Flyssc From France, joined Aug 2003, 7313 posts, RR: 60 Reply 3, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 1556 times:
Funny question...: in English, you say "it" for things. You don't have the "masculin" or "feminin" for things, like we have in French, or Italian.
I noticed that when you talk about a/c, you always say "SHE", witch sounded very strange for me at the beginning, because in French, a Plane is " un avion". It's masculin. it's " LE" Boeing, "LE" Concorde. The only "feminin" plane was "LA" Caravelle...
Cptkrell From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 2605 posts, RR: 13 Reply 5, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 1507 times:
Not a weird question, but pretty interesting. I believe watercrafts (more specifically, large sailing ships) were referred to as a "she", irrespective of the particular vessel's name. Perhaps this reference carried over to airships and now airplanes? Anyway, I have often caught myself interchanging gender for airplanes; "She's beautiful" referring to a restored Super Constellation, or, "Look at that big guy" referring to a C5 Galaxie, etc.
Anyway, I think it's an interesting topic and would like to hear additional perspectives also...Jack
Cptkrell From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 2605 posts, RR: 13 Reply 6, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 1473 times:
Oh, and I forgot to really address the original question in my previous post; I believe some aircraft actually do allude to gender because of their design. I think the 757 has a very "pretty face"...the nose/cockpit area especially look pleasingly feminine (as do some others, like the L1011 for example)...jack
Godbless From Sweden, joined Apr 2000, 2751 posts, RR: 17 Reply 7, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 1472 times:
This is what I was told:
Making planes female has the same background as it has on ships.
Considering that the captain is the boss on board ( of a ship / plane) and the "thing" he "drives" is his wife it of course has to be female.
This is also the reason why a ship's captain would always go down with HIS ship if it sank, since they "belong together".
Today however the captain does no longer have to be male but because of the history of calling planes females it just stays that what way and for me as a male I rather look at a she then at a him while spotting.
However, the 747 has been considered male because of it's size in relation to the then common 707. After all it's a Jumbo and not a Jumborette.
Capt.Fantastic From United States of America, joined Aug 1999, 659 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1312 times:
The following are female:
A319
A320
A321
A340
B727 (quite sexy)
B737-200
B737-300/400/500
B737-600/700/800
B757-200 (Sexy!!)
B767-200
B777 (Busty!)
DC-9
The following are male
A300
A310
A330
B707/720
B747 (all series)
B757-300
B767-300
B767-400
DC-8
DC-10
MD-11
MD-80
Sabena332 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 14, posted (9 years 9 months 2 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 1135 times:
An airplane is an airplane, it is not a human object, so I say "it". Everyone who say "she" or "he" to an airplane need to get a life (or better: a girl/boyfriend).
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