Tuesday 17 January 2012

Masculine, feminine or a bit of both?

We use a hydraulic log splitter to feed the ravenous maw of our chaudIère. I thought the French word for a logsplitter was a fendeuse for the machine and a fendeur for the (obviously male) user, by analogy with many other machine tools which are feminine - une tondeuse, une scieuse etc. By gum, I was wrong, judging by these specimens in the Bricomarché, both labelled "fendeur de bois".

An electrically powered fendeur de bois, at a burning-tenners price

Definitely un fendeur then.

Uh-oh, I was right after all....


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