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 Replies: 32 / Views: 4,954 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3171 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
9862 Posts |
 Do you mean in languages other than english? Which ones? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
Etymologically speaking the word coin came to English from the Latin cuneus. Cuneus is given a masculine gender. But I'm sure that is not what you meant.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
That's a great question! I have often pondered this myself. When posting an SLQ, Flying Eagle, Morgan, Peace dollar, etc - no problem. Look how pretty she is! When posting an awesome Lincoln, Jefferson or Washington.....? |
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Moderator
 Australia
16809 Posts |
I call all my coins "it". I only use "he" or "she" when referring to the people depicted on the coins. Examples: "I bought this lovely denarius. The dealer only asked $100 for it." "On the obverse is a portrait of Mars. He's got a corrosion patch under his eye, but otherwise it's a nice coin." "On the reverse, Victory is holding a palm branch, though the artist who made this particular die gave her very scruffy wings". I think life's complicated enough without anthropomorphising our collectables. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
560 Posts |
Good question. How do other languages, that use grammatical gender, refer to coins?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3592 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
I'm with Maineman!
Nonetheless, other languages assign gender to objects. In German I believe money is neuter, "das geld", if memory serves me right.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
If the person on the coin is a male, the coin is male. If the person on the coin is a female, the coin is female.
If there is no one on a coin it is a female.
If there is a male and a female on the same coin, its an it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1080 Posts |
so the State Quarters are confused? Philadelphia mints are "He" (the city of brotherly love) West Point proofs are "He" (since most armed forces members can beat me up) Denver mints are "She" (since the mountains are so pretty) Carson City are "she" ('cuz it's so close to silver mines) New Orleans mint are "she" (but I can't think of a clever reason why) (Not really, but I'm just sayin') |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
609 Posts |
Quote:
If there is a male and a female on the same coin, its an it.  |
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New Member
United States
20 Posts |
I just consider a coin an "it."
I've never assigned genders to inanimate objects.
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Pillar of the Community
978 Posts |
if its got a man on it he
if its got a women on it she
if its got both on it it
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Then there are the US Presidential dollars, where for reasons of respect I don't associate with the actual presidents.  They are most definitely Its. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1733 Posts |
Depending on the word(noun) used to refer to the coins in French they can be masculine or feminine. The most common I see is "la monnaie" which is feminine.
In English the stylized use of gender for nouns is going away with use, instead we use different word forms and even that is falling out of practice (actor and actress is now often just "actor"). Typically nouns are female when gender is used. "She's a beaut" is still a relatively common phrase. "America is popular with her neighbors at the moment." would be another example of attributing gender to a noun in common English. We are all familiar with ships and vehicles being "she" as well.
It's often just a matter of choice, "it" is totally correct and doesn't usually bring down the wrath of the grammar police.
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Valued Member
Poland
114 Posts |
In Polish 'a coin' = 'moneta' and it's feminine.
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Replies: 32 / Views: 4,954 |
Posted 06/05/2011 11:15 am
