so much gender smothered all over the french language
@candle Yes. It's very frustrating, not only because it makes "de-gendering" everyday life all that harder, but also because it gives sexists a powerful tool against it: it's *the rules* that demand the unnecessary gendering, not our fault - and yet it's just grammar, don't you have better fights to fight, lol?" :'<
@candle Well, to be fair we don't actually *think* of inanimate things as "being of X gender" - unless for a joke, or hellish advertising ideas - it's like our weird numbering where "seventy" is "sixty-ten" ! :D
So, we SAY "une table" but we're thinking "it", not "she" ^^°
@Louvelune how does it feel when someone says "un table"?
@candle Like they're English, honestly. ^^°
Same as if you called it "une tabbel" instead, like a mispronunciation...
@candle It's easier for French natives, because we get to just go "nah, fuck your rules, I'll just go ahead and do it my way!" but if you're a foreigner, people will always assume you *don't know*, and helpfully correct you if you try to skewer the genders... ^^°
@Louvelune it's weird enough with the few cases in english... like anthropomorphising vehicles as women...