Number gender: Associating gender with numbers
A few years back, talking with my wife and some friends, I brought up how I had always labeled numbers with a gender. Each number could either be male or female, and there were the occasional it could go either way. Some agreed that they did the same, while others were baffled by such a weird association. However, I quickly jumped on the internet to prove that I wasn't the only one.
Gender association of numbers is more common than one may think. In fact there was a recent publication about the genders of numbers, even within differing languages. Even more surprising was that its finding coincided somewhat with my thoughts about gender assignment of numbers. I tend to associate more odd numbers as male (insert male jokes here), whereas the even numbers are more associated with females. There are exceptions in my list, and I know that people who tend to think this way don't always agree on the genders.
Here is a shortlist of mine (top ten)
- Male
- Male
- Male
- Female
- Male
- Female
- Male
- Male
- Female
- Female
The higher and more numbers mixed in, it becomes increasingly difficult for me to assign a gender, but I can do it for all numbers. Some may just come across as 'gender neutral'.
Why is this?
That is the question, why do some people associate genders with numbers. In a world where gender is clearly defined (though it has blurred some), the association of genders to inanimate objects is societal and quite normal. Think about when people talk about their cars, "Wow, she's a beaut, isn't she?" We assign gender to objects and even numbers and letters because it is in part how we define the world around us. I loved reading this recent article about this very thing, check it out here!
Share what your gender to number assignments are!
I am curious to see what others think about the topic overall, as well as if they do use gender assignment of numbers, what are they? Please share!