- From: Asmus Freytag <asmusf@ix.netcom.com>
- Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 16:31:06 -0700
- To: "Carl W. Brown" <cbrown@xnetinc.com>, <www-international@w3.org>
At 02:59 PM 8/30/01 -0700, Carl W. Brown wrote: >Merle, > > >Note to Carl: The *German word* for girls is neuter; *German girls* are, > >I promise you, 110% female. If you woke up next to one who was neuter, > >then I'm guessing you had way too much to drink at Octoberfest ! :-) > >I suspect that the reason it is neuter comes from the German father's >desires, not reality. ;-} There's a much simpler reason. Both words are diminutive forms (viz the "-chen" and "-lein" endings) and all such are neuter. Diminutive forms of words designating young males were very common about 200 years ago, but have fallen out of fashion since ;-). A./
Received on Thursday, 30 August 2001 19:28:04 UTC