Feminine pronouns for countries?

Question

I noticed while I was reading a book the other day that the author was using the feminne pronouns (she/her) referring to countries. I looked this up and I found through Wikipedia that this rule apply for ships and oceans too!

Now, is this formal? old-fashioned? British? can I use it in conversations?

Is there another things beside ships and oceans that "she" might goes with?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I noticed while I was reading a book the other day that the author was using the feminne pronouns (she/her) referring to countries. I looked this up and I found through Wikipedia that this rule apply for ships and oceans too!

Now, is this formal? old-fashioned? British? can I use it in conversations?
'She' is traditional with ships, although today I almost always see 'it'.

'She' would only be used for a country or an ocean when speaking ina poetic style.

Is there another things beside ships and oceans that "she" might goes with?
Can't thnk of anything right now.
In Newfoundland, Canada. I believe the old-fashioned dialect refers to any inanimate object as 'she'.
eg Don't sit on that there chair, boy, she's broken'.

To an English learner, I would simply advise avoiding all these uses of 'she'.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Well, it's not a rule, per se, but rather something that some people like to use when referring to ships, etc. etc. It's more of a term used for things that people own themselves. An example would be a ship's captain referring to his ship as she:
"She's a little beat up, but she'll do fine out there." etc.
Other than a phrase such as this it shouldn't be used. "It" is always the proper way of referring to these things.

Feminine pronouns for countries?

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