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

[Wilson Gray]

Given that it's 1940's East Texas vs. 2008 eastern Massachusetts,
perhaps some yet-undiscovered factor may be at work here that will
permit the unraveling of these clews.

Or, perhaps, the contemporary speakers, like unto the character, "Gin
Rummy," of the animated cartoon, _The Boondocks_,  "just don't give a
fuck," as David has suggested in his remark WRT free variation.

IAC, in my original post, I had in mind written academic exposition
that contains strings like

"After having bereft the child of her exterior integument, I then
proceeded to place my stethoscope against his thorax in order to
ascertain the rhythm of her heartbeat, once he had been made
uncomfortable as a consequence of her having been rendered totally
nude by an utter stranger"

and not ordinary, random speech acts.

If it truly be a matter of no interest whether the subject be male or
female - uh, I meant, "female or male," of course; merely, let us say,
a senior moment - why not return to those thrilling days of yesteryear
and go with "it"?

-Wilson

OTOH, if one had somehow already succeeded in stripping English of all
encoded reference to gender, whether grammatical or natural, what
would have been accomplished, beyond making English a language unique
in human experience? Would the coming election, by any stretch of the
imagination, have become Rodham (Clinton) v. Heath (Palin)?

-Wilson

On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 9:10 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Baby's an It (call of the obstetrician?)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9/13/2008 08:44 AM, David Bowie wrote:
>>>"He saw
>>>the baby was sleeping peacefully, he touched it on the cheek, and her
>>>eyes opened. Cute little baby." '  (Sexism rampant, of
>>>course.)  Apparently for Detective Anderson babies are neuter until
>>>personal contact is established.
>>
>>To verify sexism in this, you'd have to show that the same thing
>>wouldn't have been said for a baby boy.
>
> For an infant boy left on a doorstep, and were I a policeman, I would
> have said "handsome little tyke."
>
> Joel
>
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