Re: [ot] Linux gender in French
On Sat, Nov 01, 2003 at 08:13:02PM -0500, David P James wrote:
> On November 01, 2003 09:12, Rus Foster wrote:
> > Hi All,
> > Just trying to work out in French is Linux masculine or feminine?
> >
>
> I'd say it's masculine for a couple of reasons.
>
> First, it just sounds better as "le Linux" compared to "la Linux".
> Second, it has a consonant ending and such words are typically
> masculine (there are many exceptions, but there's more like it than
> not).
I don't have a high degree of confidence in this statement,
but I would guess things that "cause" action "seem" masculine, and words
that "receive" action "seem" feminine. You know, the whole Freudian
nine yards. Things that jut out vs. things that recede, angular vs.
spherical, &c. :-)
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