Re: Ne T'enfuis pas

[gallamw@mollybloom.msfc.nasa.gov (Mike Gallaher)]

In article <4e1c47$6n6@news1.usa.pipeline.com>, maylover@usa.pipeline.com (Michael W. Gallaher) writes:
|> In regards to the masculine noun "le chat" in the song, this is proper
|> French usage.  All nouns have gender in a linguistic sense, but that
|> doesn't mean the noun has the same gender in the physical sense.  As an
|> example, the French word for 'teacher' (le professor) is masculine, and
|> would be used even if the particular teacher is herself a woman. 
|> Similarly, Kate uses "un chat" properly, since she is metaphorically using
|> the characteristers of a cat, or "le chat."  You'd use "la chatte" only to
|> distinguish a female cat in particular, as in "Henry is <le chat> (boy cat)
|> and Mary is <le chatte> (the girl cat)."  Had Kate used "une chatte,"  the
|> line would translate "I come like a female cat," and that's not relevant to
|> what she's conveying here, right?

Ooops, that shoulda been <la chatte> instead of <le chatte>...