@Bootsy said:I blame it on the Evil Language Genie
In most or probably all languages there are things that don't make sense and just need to be accepted, and i can do that with no problem. But this M/F/N business is just plain cruel and i would like to get my hands on that Evil Language Genie, although i expect i am more than a few centuries too late. I am more fascinated with the thinking behind this. Why would anyone assign a gender to "ant" for example, or amoeba or a thousand other words that do not refer to girls or boys? I think i will have to go back to Sanskrit for some clue and then compare to the oldest Asian language, maybe Mandarin?
In Spanish, with lots of exceptions, most F words end in "a" and most "M" words end in "o" and as long as i get the noun right, i don't worry about the descriptors. I have developed my own sound that is half way between "a" and "o" and kind of hurry over it. For me, the word "agua" (water) is the funniest because it is an "F" word, but always it is "el agua" (el M for "the" and F for "agua"). I asked one of my teachers, why it is el agua instead of la agua and was told that "la agua" doesn't sound good.
Gotcha
I also write quizzes and one that I wrote was about 25 words that contain "ant". 
