Nitpicking at its finest, I think.

Why should I get ''mad'' when someone calls a baby it?  If the parent(s) fail to stipulate what the gender of the child is, it isn't the other person's fault for not realising what the child actually is (and babies all look the same)...

I am always afraid I will drop them and kill them or fall on top of them and smash them.

I feel like people don'y listen... I said "I have never heard a person call an adult It when the gender is unknown!


DFG, I was also so scared of dropping or falling on Lars or rolling over on top of him in bed or throwing him.

When an adult's gender is unknown they are referred to as "they" (as just noted), even when there is clearly only one of them.

Exactly! So why the ageism? A child is not an it. A child is as much a person as you or me.

I'm fairly positive the child wouldn't be offended by it: they never listen to what the adult is saying anyway, as they're too wrapped up in whatever it is they're doing!  
Alison

Yeah, but some kids do like to listen to adults.


My mom calls some babies It, including my son and she knew his gender! I wonder if she called me It when I was a baby. She probaqbly did, because they didn't know what I was until I was born, and they hadn't decided on a name yet.

yeah... i got the same fears. because everyone freaks out about how frgal they are...and i hate the sound of there cries it make me get a panic attecks yikes...i guess i shouldn't be a mother..i don;t want to be one ether.

Hmm...nope. Sometimes I do it myself even when I find out the gender and then I correct myself. I think people call babies it and not adults because babies are new, they havent developed into a full person yet, and that stuff. neutral little things, in ways. I mean humans... I'm afraid to drop them too sometimes :S. That would just suck.

This post was last modified: 06-01-2010 09:44 PM by mels8780.

i've thoguht of much more evil thigns to say to babies than calling them "it". but only because my sense of humour can be like that. i'd never really tell a crying baby that no one's listening.

If I told my mom's friend's 2 year old nobody is listening, idk what she would do O_O she'd be offended probably. Or maybe she'd plot to kill me. She's one smart 2 year old....kind of scary.

I've called an adult 'it' before... some case of someone who insisted on introducing itself as Justin(e). Completely unclear as to what gender it preferred. Not sure it knew itself. Incidentally, this was not to Justin(e)'s face... it was just some comment I made online, so definitely no harm done. In my opinion, given that some people identify as androgynes or transgender (non-transsexual), they might actually prefer 'it'. I don't know. I don't mind people calling me 'it', as long as the intent isn't bad. That would be rare though.. most of the time, when people refer to an adult as 'it' their intent *is* bad.

I once got a very pissed off reaction from someone because I called my fetus 'it'. My *own* fetus, that we didn't know the gender of yet. Some people are just crazy.

People mistake my almost 3yo son for a girl all the time, even when we dress him in total 'boys' clothes (green army camo pants, dark blue shirt, for example). The only 'girl' thing about him is that he has long hair.  

Not sure why gender matters at all. Why do we need separate pronouns for boys and girls? Not all languages have those.

I have referred to a person as THAT when incensed at them. I don't like being picked on and I have referred to the "leader" of my tormentors as THAT when referring to whom I am angry with.

What tormentors? You have tormentors, where? Are you still in school or something :/? I'm sorry you have tormentors though.