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A woman was surprised that I call a baby "it". Why?
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Women tend to think about babies as persons; therefore he or she would be apropriate.
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Though calling babies "it" is not necessarily wrong....
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It's wrong! You must ask if it's a boy or a girl if you're not sure, but never call it it.
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You just called it "it" yourself. Was that intentional?
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<It's wrong! You must ask if it's a boy or a girl if you're not sure, but never call it it. >
You're wrong. For example, if you don't know the sex of and unborn child, what would you call that child?
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Another person has told me it's ok, for example, if you hate the babies and think of as little horrids. That is my case, so I will follow this advice.
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It's quite simple...you can't refer to a human being as "it" in the English language whether it's a baby or not. Forget about the sensitivities of the mother, it's just simply grammatically incorrect.
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<Another person has told me it's ok, for example, if you hate the babies and think of as little horrids. That is my case, so I will follow this advice. >
Good advice. In fact, my mother-in-law sometimes refers to me as "it" whenever she's angry with me.
;-)
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<It's quite simple...you can't refer to a human being as "it" in the English language whether it's a baby or not. Forget about the sensitivities of the mother, it's just simply grammatically incorrect. >
It's obvious that you are not a native speaker.
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I've seen babies referred to as "it", but it may be inappropriate if the sex of the baby is known. The same applies to animals, but to a lesser degree, since they're not human. It probably wouldn't be wise to refer a woman's own child as "it", even if you don't know the baby's sex.
- Kef
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If the sex of the baby is known, "it" would sound somewhat disrespectful. This can also be the case with pets... I get irritated when people refer to my chinchilla (HE is awesome) as an "it". I give people three strikes, then I sick him on the perpetrator.
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If you're talking about a baby in general, using "it" is fine and grammatically correct and in common practice, even if you don't notice it. As for an older human, that is different.
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To clarify, I mean "babies in general."
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<As for an older human, that is different. >
I dunno, Benny, each time you post I say "It has submerged".
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