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."