Why do some languages use gendered nouns? It seems to just add more complexity for no benefit.

  • Lath@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Case by case scenario. Man vs woman is simplest one. One gives the fuck, the other takes the fuck. Hence why gay men that took it were seen as less than equal to other men. And why men were seen as providers.

    Some jobs were only done by men so only a noun for men was associated. Same for women.

    Some biological functions were named after astral phenomenons, like menstruation.

    Some locations and names were popularized through misunderstandings and mistranslation, like turkey - which has a different country name depending on where you are.
    Or the more common ones are things like “Fuck knows”, “nowhere’s arsehole”, “between your mom’s legs”, “my goat’s testicles”, “where my cow shits”, “the middle between fuck off and kiss my ass” etc.

    There is no real rhyme or reason. Each word has its own origin and they can all be very far apart from the intentions of their creators. Nor could those creators know the evolution of their choice in verbalizing some ideas the way they did.

    Don’t search for unity where there is none.