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

[Wilson Gray]

I *personally* would use "the." However, I consider that to be totally
a personal preference and the example strings are, like Jesus, all
right with me.

-Wilson

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 7:10 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Baby's an It (call of the obstetrician?)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
> 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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