Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1996 13:52:32 -0500
From: Ronald Butters amspeech[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ACPUB.DUKE.EDU
Subject: Re: why the male member is not referred to as Gertrude
On Tue, 5 Mar 1996, Donald Larmouth wrote
. . . I never thought of body parts as "possessions" but
as extensions of myself.
I believe that there is a technical term for this: "inalienable
possession." Some languages mirror the difference, e.g., in French one
says (as I recall) "Je vais a' laver mes chats" but "Je vais a' me laver les
mains."