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

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/9/2008 10:15 AM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>
>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'?!!"
>
>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.

You apparently haven't been faced by a modern parent whose child is
"Dana", or "Leslie/Leslie", or (in the early modern era) "Moon Unit", or ...

Joel

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