#this ties into what i found where calling a narrowboat a barge is an insult to the owner | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

divinekangaroo · 3 months

Text

my stray headcanon:

tommy *constantly* misgenders (mis-sexes?) horses because him and his whole family including Uncle Charlie have this weird complicated mental matrix for how and when a horse is a 'he' or 'she' or 'it' based around the equally complex gendering conventions for narrowboats

which convention, from what I can tell by reading multiple narrowboat forums and at least one 16th century four page long complaint letter about indecency on narrowboats some landowner wrote to a canal company, runs something like this:

do you like the guy who owns the boat? y = the boat is she, n = the boat is it

do you think the boat is poor quality = it, but be aware this may be offensive to the owner and start a fight

is the boat in the process of being built and hasn't got hisself wet yet? = he, then he's a she after it's first run

is the boat built by this one particular Welsh dude who lives in [insert Welsh river hamlet name}? y = always a she no matter how you feel about the boat or its wet status

is the boat built by the other particular Scottish dude who lives in [random hated English hamlet name)? y = always a he unless you've actually been on the boat, then it's an it, unless it was a really good road (every lock in your favour) in which case the boat is an honorary she

was a baby born on the boat = she

is it your boat = she

is it your friend's boat = he because it might offend your friend

did the boat once go through some random tunnel = he until he goes through the tunnel again and becomes a she

#when gender is about your relationship not physical characteristic #whatever samuel l delaney was doing with gender in stars in my pocket like grains of sand...#...he should've hung out on narrowboat forums #yes i am aware this all sounds like an ingroups running joke against outsiders but it's also f hilarious #and i think tommy misgenderd horses in the show once #also i swear dangerous changed from an s4 'she' to an s5 'he' but anyway #for someone who actually does academic writing i really need to keep better references #this ties into what i found where calling a narrowboat a barge is an insult to the owner #tommy's “black barge”#also charlie and arthur call the January a she and tommy calls it “it”

12 notes · View notes