In a message dated 9/26/00 12:33:59 PM GMT Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
> >She lies on her back, with four short legs in the air.
(snip)
> May I ask why 'she': does the description indicate anything
> markedly feminine about the dragon?
Perhaps a influenced by the old saw: "When a woman falls, she usually falls
on her back"? The lack of "convincing musculature" has perhaps also suggested
femininity (contra: the televisuals from the current Olympics). More (and
most?) probably, the general reluctance to employ the neuter singular "it",
"they", in English when sex is undecidable.
However, there was also a popular drama series on television entitled "George
and the Dragon" in which the latter was a lady, so perhaps there is an
underlying archetype of the collective unconscious coming to the surface
here. Discuss. Do not attempt to write on both sides of the paper at once.
Henry.
visit the Scottish Place-Name Society website at
http://www.st-and.ac.uk/institutes/sassi/spns/index.htm
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