Linguistics

One Aboriginal language groups 'women, fire and dangerous things' into a single class

Dyirbal, spoken in northeast Queensland, sorts every noun into one of four classes, and the class that covers women also covers fire, water, and dangerous animals. Linguist George Lakoff used that exact grouping as the title of his influential 1987 book on how categories in the mind don't always follow tidy logical lines.

George Lakoff, Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things — University of Chicago Press, 1987
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