NationStates Jolt Archive

When I was really young, my kindergarten teacher would play educational videos that taught us numbers and letters. The show's characters were the numbers 0-9 and the letters of the alphabet. But it was weird because they were all male and female.

Now, I cannot help but think of certain characters being male and others being female.

Yes, it's strange, I know.

Anyway, I can't remember how it was on the show, so I don't know if it affected me. So, help me out! Try to classify all the numbers and letters by gender. Just think of it this way: If they were cartoon characters, which ones would be male and which would be female? I'll put my list below, but don't read it until you've made one yourself, so you aren't influenced.

OK, here's my list:

*** Don't read my list until you've made one yourself! ***
















Male:
B E F H J K N P R S T X Y Z
1 2 3 5 7 8

Female:
A D G I L O Q U W
4 6 9 0

Unsure:
C M V

Letters don't have gender, silly. They do have color though.

Wow... This thread is really, really whimsical.

Letters don't have gender, silly. They do have color though.
That sounds oddly familiar... :p

Female:3,6,8,2 and x,l,f,q,o,d,c,e
Male: everything else. I do understand what you are talking about though. Like some animals look as if they should all be male or Female

I don't see how you decided what category those numbers and letters fall under. Unless you just did it randomly.

I don't see how you decided what category those numbers and letters fall under. Unless you just did it randomly.
I honestly didn't. It's just... I can't even explain it. I see the number "3" or the letter "R" and I think: male. I see a "4", a "6", or an "A", I think: female. It's automatic.

I thought that seeing those educational videos as a kid might have ingrained these ideas in my impressionable psyche, but I can't remember what genders those characters had, so I can't be sure.

Male:
B E F H J K N P R S T X Y Z
1 2 3 5 7 8

Female:
A D G I L O Q U W
4 6 9 0

Unsure:
C M V

Interesting. Did you make the "curvier" letters female on purpose, or was that subconscious?

Interesting. Did you make the "curvier" letters female on purpose, or was that subconscious?
Dunno. I think it's just a coincidence. I mean, for male I have B, J, S, 3, etc. And for female I have L, W, 4. etc.

I think that it is normal for us (humans) to attribute genders to things that don't actually have genders. Almost all languages gender their nouns (English being one of the few exceptions). Most people apply genders to their principle possessions (Cars, boats etc.)

So why not to letters and numbers. Particularly if you learnt them in association with a particular gender.

I use the alphabet people program in my preschool class and it's the same one they used in kindergarten with me. All of the vowels and even numbers are female, everything else is male. ;) (no, I don't know why)

Male:

CDEFGJMNORTXZ
245780

Female:

ABHIKLPQSUVWY
1369