Baby's an It (call of the obstetrician?)

[Scot LaFaive]

My wife and I are having our first in October, and when we hadn't yet found
out the gender I referred to the baby as "it." Of course, I also call God
"it." (Or would that be "It.")

Scot

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 9:15 AM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Baby's an It (call of the obstetrician?)
>
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>
> =20
> This discussion reminds me of the time I realized that asking a parent =
> the name of his/her baby could risk a social gaffe. If you say "What's =
> his name?" and the baby turns out to be a girl, the parent could be =
> offended that his/her beautiful , feminine baby could be mistaken for a =
> boy. (Mutuatis mutandis for a baby boy).  If you ask, "What's its =
> name?", that's even worse.  The reaction, even if not articulated, could =
> be: "My beautiful baby is being called an 'it'?!!"
> =20
> You could of course simply ask, "What's the baby's name?", although on a =
> subtle level that reveals you don't know really know the gender.
> I found a better way.  I'd look directly at the baby in the carriage and =
> say cheerfully: "Hi, baby! What's your name?"  The parent would then =
> proudly furnish the name, and in almost all instances that let me know =
> the gender.
> =20
> G. Cohen
> =20
>
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