[Ads-l] Should ze be in the dictionary?

[Jonathan Lighter]

> a hypocoristic use of <it> with infants

Not usually hypocoristic in 19th C. novels, etc. Once common.

Same goes for house pets.

JL

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 6:29 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> What about the ready-to-hand <it>? The third person singular neuter pronoun
> has been around for millennia. <Neuter> in Latin meaning 'neither'
> masculine nor feminine. I do seem to recall a hypocoristic use of <it> with
> infants, so there is that precedence. "Duh widdle baby idd awake? Uh-oh! It
> need a new diapuh, yes it do!"
>
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>



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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org