--- Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...> wrote:
> Some speakers will even use "it" for any
> non-human, even a pet cat or dog (I associate
> this with older speakers,
> but that may be an erroneous impression).
Many speakers (myself included) also refer to
babies and small children as "it" as well. Until
they're properly boys or girls (perhaps 2 or 3?)
there's just no point.
> (And if there were to be any changes in English
> gender, I would rather
> prefer a simplification to either
> human/non-human or animate/inanimate
> or no gender)
Note that such a construct has seen some use in
(sci-fi) literature. I mentioned once before
Laurie Marks who makes use of the (fully
declined) pronoun "id" for nongendered beings.
Padraic.
=====
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