Although I think in female terms when talking about our car, which I named Jenny, and our computer, which I named Margaret, I sympathize. I am triggered easily by gratuitous use of the f-word, and that custom has become so commonplace that it's hard to have any contact at all with the public, and not hear it. Is the fact that hurricanes have been alternating between male and female since the late 1970's, any comfort at all?

Maybe personalizing inanimate objects makes them seem friendlier and less intimidating, as some people find cars and computers to be. (By the way, I don't know if it means much, but I don't think in gender terms about all cars or computers, just my own.) Naming the machines that are the most useful to me kind of elevates them to Rosie the Robot Maid status. Remember the character from The Jetsons? Technically, robots aren't male or female either. I don't mean to belittle your trigger. We all have our own. I'm so afraid of snakes that if I see a picture of one in a book, I jump, and then I turn the page carrrrreffffulllllyyy by the corner, as if that picture of a snake is going to take a strike at me. And I heard of someone else who made a visitor leave his snakeskin boots outside. Same fear. Whether it's rational or silly, it feels just as uncomfortable.

Incidentally, I'm totally with Lynn on "the" wife. Even worse than that, the men (such as my grandfather) who jokingly say "let me check with the boss" right before asking their wives for their opinions. No need to be condescending about it.