Answers
Jul 18, 2012 - 09:17 AM
I always wonder the same thing myself. Also, who decides when a new word is added to the language if it is masculine or feminine? Hmmm
Jul 30, 2012 - 10:06 PM
English did have noun genders "way back when" (1100 AD or so), but these were lost over time due to language absorption when conquering nations invaded English speaking lands. A good book to read on language history is "Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World" by Nicholas Ostler. Present day English does contain remants of noun genders, both grammatical and natural, mostly identified by noun suffixes: -er (like teacher) is grammatically feminine, -or (like doctor) is grammatically masculine, -tress (like seamstress) is naturallly feminine, etc. But English noun genders aren't much taught except as a matter of linguistic history.