Re: [ot] Linux gender in French
On Sun, Nov 02, 2003 at 09:56:30AM -0600, Hugo Vanwoerkom wrote:
> Christophe Courtois wrote:
> >Le Dimanche 2 Novembre 2003 03:42, Wesley J Landaker a déclamé :
> >
> >>Then again, as I said, I'm not
> >>a native French speaker, and although I've got *fairly* good inuition
> >>into a word's gender, I still make mistakes! ;)
> >
> >
> > Don't worry, even French people don't always know all genders :-)
> >
>
> True, but having lived in Mexico for the last 10 years and speaking
> Spanish, I note with regret that genders are "built-in" and if you come
> from a more or less genderless background (the Netherlands, US) then you
> never get it: it just refuses to become automatic.
>
With all due respect, it isn't the most impressive cultural attribute
I've ever encountered. It shows some cultural linkage with Americans --
we do lots of (dumb) stuff "just because" too :-)
Reply to: