🚀 go-pugleaf

Mark Rosenfelder wrote:
> The masculine/feminine/neuter business goes back for centuries-- it's
> familiar and there is some correspondence with sex.  We could call them
> vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but then people would ask why you
> have to use vanilla adjectives for men and chocolate for women.
> 
> As for the purpose of gender, consider English vs. French:
>   --J'ai mis la cle sur le livre.  --Je ne le vois pas.
>   "I put the key on the book."  "I don't see it."
> 
> Is it the key or the book that the second person can't see?  In French it's
> obvious, because of the gender.
> 
> Or consider the amusing French film _Le grand blond avec une chaussure
> noire_.  The adjectives tell us the title character's sex; the English title
> needs to add another noun to give the same information.
> 
> Gender agreement may also help in parsing, since it offers extra clues
> on what words go with each other.

Thank you for the reasonable, non-condescending, and educational
response. I can now see a use for word genders, though I'm still not
sure they're worth the hassle.

--
Kalen

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