flyfisher Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1359203965' post='1951481'] What's wrong with it? "It makes me squirm" isn't even justifying why you think it's wrong. There's nothing wrong with referring to inanimate objects as "she" or even naming them IMO. Posting publically on a forum that (I assume) will contain a lot of people that do what you don't like accusing them of not being in touch of reality or asking them to stop really makes you look very judgemental without any kind of justification. [/quote] +1 Live and let live [size=3](subject, of course, to the over-riding principle: 'Do No Harm')[/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coilte Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1359203965' post='1951481'] What's wrong with it? "It makes me squirm" isn't even justifying why you think it's wrong. There's nothing wrong with referring to inanimate objects as "she" or even naming them IMO. Posting publically on a forum that (I assume) will contain a lot of people that do what you don't like accusing them of not being in touch of reality or asking them to stop really makes you look very judgemental without any kind of justification. [/quote] +1. OP, if this is all you have on your mind, consider yourself very lucky. Why should it matter to you, what, or why, someone names their belongings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedmanzie Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1359212743' post='1951658'] +1. OP, if this is all you have on your mind, consider yourself very lucky. [/quote] I have to find a new burrow to live in as a fox has trashed it and nicked my carrots... Anyway, no offence intended in my lighthearted original post, i'm surprised to see it's kicked off a maelstrom of terrible fury! It doesn't 'matter to me' as such, and I'm not 'worrying about it', but we can talk about any old rubbish can't we?! I do genuinely find the term 'she' for a bass quite annoying but I'm not going to petition the government for a ruling just yet... I'm not sure I can justify my squirming much beyond I think it sounds daft and it gets on my wick, although I think it does possibly have an element of sexist language about it? This is a question rather than an admonishment, so don't attack me please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedmanzie Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1359205742' post='1951519'] Is it me or is there a lot of meanness on BC this yr? Since the start of the year there has been a few 'Most hateful threads (quotes, songs etc). Criticising people for Youtube vids, other critical threads. Now this, criticising for terminology and use of words..f*** me this is sad. I'm sure BC not always been this bad! [/quote] Basschat is great and I would not do anything to be offensive or disrespectful to the members here. Sorry if the original post came over that way - to be clear, it's not intended to be mean or hateful at all, its difficult to get the appropriate tone in emails/forums, when it would be obvious if we were talking face to face that this is a tongue in cheek question, along the lines of "Why do people eat margarine? its disgusting?!" (which is true by the way...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Maybe they're referred to as "she" because they are beautiful and curvy...I read somewhere that Bernie Goodfellow took years perfecting the shape of the Rumour because he wanted it to have the curves of a women (look at the headstock motif). [IMG]http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q639/FairfaxAikman/More%20GBs/moreGBs014_zps20d3151c.jpg[/IMG] As a rule I don't name my basses though my Warwick Dolphin was called "Philippa" - obviously!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 After owning a few guitars and basses I broke with tradition & named my custom bass "Mr Noisy" due to it's onboard overdrive. Then found a "Mr Noisy" Mr. Man enamel badge & stuck it in the strap for it. First time I put it away I wasn't thinking (no change there then!) and next time I picked it up the neck had a chunk out of the finish where it had rested against the badge. No more names from then on. Tony Iommi's JD has been "Old Boy" for a very long time, so it's not all "she". In the gospel according to Simon Mayo's radio show last week, ships are called "she" because they carry people inside them, like a mother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1359218863' post='1951788'] Maybe they're referred to as "she" because they are beautiful and curvy...I read somewhere that Bernie Goodfellow took years perfecting the shape of the Rumour because he wanted it to have the curves of a women (look at the headstock motif). As a rule I don't name my basses though my Warwick Dolphin was called "Philippa" - obviously!! [/quote] Good grief, that's a poor lass being impaled by a bass guitar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Yes, that was my first thought too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I do it, luckily I've only got 2 basses and a guitar, mine are named after my lady friend at the time. This just seems to me as another facet of the sentimentality debate. At uni me and my housemates ended up in a discussion of first thing you'd grab in case of fire. Mine was my bass, without even thinking, it holds so much sentimental value. It's not my first bass, but it's the one I learned properly on, I worked a proper job just to pay for it and I just can't imagine being without it. One of my housemates however, just couldn't understand this. It was covered under house insurance, so he just didn't get why I'd bother taking it, I'd get a brand new better bass from the insurance claim. He wouldn't take anything in case of a fire, he said there was nothing he had that was irreplaceable. Personally I find that a little sad. So really it's just a form of sentimentality, obviously I know my basses don't ACTUALLY have independent personalities, but projecting emotions and personalities onto things that don't necessarily have them is hardly the exclusive realm of the psychopath. Ever have a teddy bear? A pet? Ever get slightly misty eyed when moving out of a house you've lived in for a while? If not then fine, you're just not a sentimental person, but hat doesn't make those of us who are weird or crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedmanzie Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1359223043' post='1951890'] So really it's just a form of sentimentality, obviously I know my basses don't ACTUALLY have independent personalities, but projecting emotions and personalities onto things that don't necessarily have them is hardly the exclusive realm of the psychopath. Ever have a teddy bear? A pet? Ever get slightly misty eyed when moving out of a house you've lived in for a while? If not then fine, you're just not a sentimental person, but hat doesn't make those of us who are weird or crazy. [/quote] Someone on the Sales Forum just bought an envelope pedal, and posted "I'll take good care of her!"... Her? A stomp box? This is not sentimentality... This [i]is[/i] weird craziness...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I hope I've got this right now, but I was under the impression we use "she" to describe ships as relic from when English used to masculine and feminine. Think I got that Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson. My instruments are called girls names. I was describing the difference between the electric guitar and bass guitar to a class of year 9s once and one kid asked "Why are all of your guitars girls, sir?" to which I quipped, feeling particularly chipper and frivolous that day "Anything that spends that long vibrating on my lap needs to be a girl for me." They fell about then another kid puts his his hand up and says "Head", which struck me as a strange statement, then like a magic force had control of them they shut up instantly. The door opened, and in walked the headteacher. The class' eyes shifted to me in a lets-see-how-he-digs-himself-out-of-this-one kind of way, and I just tried to keep on "So you see the strings a lot fatter on this one..." Going redder and redder in the face! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Actually it makes me squirm too, but I couldn't tell you why. I also find it creepy when people give names to inanimate objects, but again I don't know why. Obviously some deep-seated childhood regression... I also squirm when I hear women referred to as 'fillies', or 'tottie', or 'tang', or even 'the laydeez'. Gross. So anyway, if we're going to allow anyone to call anything by any name they like, I'm going to call my bass 'Mr Kenneth Scrotum' on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, and 'Mrs Dorothy Teats' for the rest of the week. Is that OK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1359205742' post='1951519'] I'm sure BC not always been this bad![/quote] Agreed. Sometimes it's been a whole lot worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1359205742' post='1951519'] Now this, criticising for terminology and use of words... f*** me this is sad.[/quote] You can see why though, can't you? [size=4] [/size][size=4] [/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1359223496' post='1951896'] Someone on the Sales Forum just bought an envelope pedal, and posted "I'll take good care of her!"... Her? A stomp box? This is not sentimentality... This [i]is[/i] weird craziness...! [/quote] I'd appreciate access to this absolutely correct weird craziness meter you have, it would help settle a few arguments. Different people do different things, if you start writing off entire groups of people for minor idiosyncrasies, then I think you'll find yourself quite lonely. My advice is to gradate "weird craziness" and act accordingly, here's a couple of examples to get you going: Example: A man refers to his bass guitar by a female name. Action: No action required. Example: A man murders a passing transient, peels his skin, wears it like a suit, and runs around screaming about garlic. Action: Inform the police, hide any garlic you have on your person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Wow, craziness is logarithmic. Who knew? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coilte Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1359215383' post='1951721'] Anyway, no offence intended in my lighthearted original post, i'm surprised to see it's kicked off a maelstrom of terrible fury! [/quote] No offence taken, and I'm certainly not furious. The smiley in my post should have told you that. Actually, I'm amused that something so trivial could bother someone even in the smallest of ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I'm firmly of the opinion that anyone who names an inanimate object is mentally ill and my friend Brian the Telecaster agrees with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1359228290' post='1951984'] I'm firmly of the opinion that anyone who names an inanimate object is mentally ill and my friend Brian the Telecaster agrees with me. [/quote] Well Billingsley, the 19th century gamekeeper who lives in my sock drawer, disagrees. He says it's perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. He also says we need to help out our boys in the Crimea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedmanzie Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1359225993' post='1951940'] I'd appreciate access to this absolutely correct weird craziness meter you have, it would help settle a few arguments. Different people do different things, if you start writing off entire groups of people for minor idiosyncrasies, then I think you'll find yourself quite lonely. My advice is to gradate "weird craziness" and act accordingly, here's a couple of examples to get you going: Example: A man refers to his bass guitar by a female name. Action: No action required. Example: A man murders a passing transient, peels his skin, wears it like a suit, and runs around screaming about garlic. Action: Inform the police, hide any garlic you have on your person. [/quote] Ok I'll let you in on my weird crazy meter... Your reply is pretty weird! So maybe you are crazy. And what is a passing transient? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1359229227' post='1952003'] Your reply is pretty weird! [/quote] Intelligent people get that a lot. I found his reply witty and to the point. best, bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I kind of understand it, but I feel uncomfortable with the idea of calling my basses a 'she'. Even if somebody was showing me theirs and said "she's beautiful isn't she?", i'd have to respond with "yes, it is" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1359206772' post='1951540'] Female Basschatters... Do you assign a gender or name to any of your musical instruments? [/quote] Well... The French, Germans, Spanish and Italians (to name but a few) assign a gender to everything. It's a linguistic requirement. Isn't a bass feminine in at least 3 of those languages? Are we not European? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 [quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1359232018' post='1952045']Are we not European? [/quote] Apparently many are Dancer. Though on here some are 'kin [i]Highland[/i] Dancers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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