going off on a tangent-- why are somethings mother's (mother tongue) and other things father's (father's land)--

I was thinking of abstract things-- but some concrete things are often mothers or at least "she"-- ships are alway a she- but i think that is because captains where always "he".

Russia has a motherland-- but Germany has father land (heimat-- which i know doesn't quite mean fatherland, but is translated as such)and we have "mother of all battles", and "father time".


my other obsession