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

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:10 PM -0700 9/9/08, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>I've often wondered if "baby" should be considered a pronoun. You see
>it in sentences like (making them up):
>
>When baby gets into trouble
>
>My guess is you also see:
>
>When doggy won't obey
>When kitty won't come
>
>BB

More a proper name than a pronoun, I'd reckon.

LH

>
>On Sep 9, 2008, at 3:55 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>>-
>>Of course, the use of "it" simplifies one's grammar. When writing a
>>paper on babies or children, authors can simply use "it" instead of
>>using "he ... her," "she ... him" or other grammatical asininities in
>>a silly effort not to appear genderist, as though the 99.44% of the
>>population that has no interest whatsoever in scholarly papers of any
>>kind would give a flying fox at a rolling doughnut about this
>>"problem" with the English language.
>>
>>-Wilson
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org