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Bourbon no ice
Crewman
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 2
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 Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:44 pm Female ships |
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On TOS and TNG (and therefore in the Star Trek movies), ships are female, i.e. people use "she" when talking about ships. However in VOY, they use "it".
Has anyone noticed this too? Is there any explanation for it?
Do you know which gender the ships have in DS9 and ENT?
I hope this hasn't been discussed before. At least I could not find it.
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calvin
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Joined: 31 Jul 2008
Posts: 78
Location: SoCal
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| Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:18 pm |
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it's just a tradition to refer to ships as females. it's not a steadfast rule of any particular series, but rather a matter of personal preference.
perhaps the main characters of TNG and TOS just happen to use this figure of speech more often than the main characters of VOY. the use of gender-specific pronouns to refer to inanimate objects is currently in decline, so that may contribute to the difference.
it's sorta like how most ships' AI's use female voices. it's just an arbitrary design choice that corresponds to our cultural conventions. but the ship itself isn't really male or female.
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Lord Borg
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 11214
Location: Vulcan Capital City, Vulcan
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| Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:36 am |
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Its mostly tradition as said above, theres not real...gender to the ships. Sort of like how some sailing vessels in real life have female names.
-------signature-------
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
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Bourbon no ice
Crewman
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 2
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| Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:46 am |
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| calvin wrote: | | perhaps the main characters of TNG and TOS just happen to use this figure of speech more often than the main characters of VOY. |
My observation is that it's not just the main characters but everyone in the series. For instance, even the Ferengi referred to the Enterprise as female when they boarded her in Rascals ("We've netted a Federation starship and her crew").
The only time in the entire Voyager series I recall someone using female pronouns for a ship was when Tom Paris talked about Alice (and that was even before she began impersonating a "real" woman).
I'm aware of the naval tradition. The background might be that captains traditionally have to regard their ships as a substitute for their girlfriends that they had to leave at home. Maybe Janeway broke with this tradition because she had to leave her boyfriend at home. But this is just speculation... and does not explain why the other characters use "it" too.
| Quote: | | the use of gender-specific pronouns to refer to inanimate objects is currently in decline, so that may contribute to the difference. |
This might explain it, as TNG and TOS are older than Voyager, even though they've stuck to this tradition in the newer movies with the TNG crew.
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