I sometimes call my boat a Sh(e)it, which I guess reflects more of a gender balance:)

How are they going to cope with our great Aussie saying 'she'll be right mate'.

She is not a griping, obstreperous, overbearing, blackguarding, unhandy termagant, no, he is a gentle but tough, understanding, handy, friendly beast.
( l would not, under any circumstance, call my bike, car, boat, or plane a she.)

As far as the "politically correct language" - what a horsesheit! - is concerned, one would be wise not to ignore the modern classics like Erwin Welsh's and Ben Elton's writings.

That is brilliant!

Not all is lost as far as the young generation is concerned, perhaps.

Crusoe said..
If you think we've got problems, what are the French going to do. From memory, their language is chokers with gender referrals.

Like the Spanish speaking countries.....a word ending in A is female. Ending in O is male. I know 'cos my Mum
lives in Spain.

Well, if they stop that expression "YOU'RE WELCOME" I will be happy!!

Trek said..
What will the pc police do when they realise the symbols on men and womens loos are different..... Make them the same?

Then there will no longer be anything called a 'Male' or 'Female' loo, there will merely be loos

Plenty of shared loos about already. Eastern Creek raceway a couple of weeks ago and there was a shared loo. The women there were not to happy about it either!

cisco said..
The only success in life lies in living your life in your own way.

Phuck them I say. Nobody has the right to dictate how another should live.

There are only three certain things with life.

1. You are born.
2. You live.
3. You die.

Everything else including taxes are optional.

Well, I beg to differ. I was told by a Nurse I was on a first date with there were three certain things in life...
Death, taxes and nurses...And what do you know. She was soooooo right!

Chris 249 said..
It seems like a complete beat-up. ONE faculty in ONE university seems to have issues with calling a boat a "she". It does so only in a guide to essay writing, which is a formal document that establishes things such as the way to do citations and footnotes. To use that as any evidence of "political correctness gone mad" is like saying that because one Queensland yacht skipper was a cheat, cheating is rife in Qld. I've known racist sailors, but that doesn't mean that all sailors are racist.

PS - it is funny to see this typo or spelling error in the same guide to essay writing - "Avoid contractions, slang and colloquial expressions. A contraction is a shorted form of a word or expression common in spoken English but should be avoided in formal written expression like essays." Errr, guys, I think you meant "shortened"..... "shorted" IS slang.

Hmm perhaps my terminology was a bit strong but frankly it has . We are hell bent catering to minority groups and I'm sick of it.
What's wrong in using the word mankind in an essay assuming it is used in the correct context. I'm not sure what your getting down there but when a student is marked down for using the word "mankind " and for referring to his car as "she" in an essay something is wrong. A list of gender related words that are discouraged by Griffith
is published in today's Courier as well as comments from UQ .This is the same bunch that would not let anglo students use a computer room meant for aboriginals . I would not be surprised if they were also instrumental for the booklet issued to all volunteers at the Comm. Games that recommended they refer to visitors with gender neutral names only like 'hello people'and greet them not with G'Day or Hi but use the aboriginal word for hello 'jingeri'.

Bananabender said..
Have we gone completely mad.
I read today in the Courier Mail that Queensland Universities are now marking down results if gender language is used such as quote "referring to a boat as she"
Stuff em I'll call a boat a shelia.

Nargh, this was around 30 years ago. When I did my Computing degree (back before the profession was called "IT"). I got penalised for using words like "Abort" in software code and user manuals. Universities have always been a haven for hairy arm pitted feminist hippies. The only difference is, back then I had a young tolerant open mind.

I know this thread started out related to boats being called "she". But you all know theres a forum in general discussion called heavy weather for this sort of discussion?

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/General-Discussion/Heavy-Weather

Not really.

I just know most of the people on the sailing forum don't really venture out of the sailing forum, and probably aren't even aware it exists.

carry on...

Toph said..
And there you have it. Trek has taken the turn towards HW

I have to thank you Toph for your efforts at keeping the HW thing away from the sailing forum.

If one wants to refer to their passion, be it their yacht, car or whatever as a she/he or it, that is entirely the individuals choice.

It brooks no discussion on morals, discrimination and least of all political correctness.

What the heck are we talking about here??

My suggestion is to either lock the thread or move it to HW.

Put it into HW and the SJWs will have a ball with it!!

My yacht is the best mistress I have ever had.