Re: Zero

raccoon@ELKNET.NET wrote:
> IIRC, the Chinese actually traditionally reckoned age from conception, so
> when the baby reaches three months of age out of the womb, they would start
> calling him/her (I almost said 'it' -- why is it acceptable to call a baby
> it but not an adult?) a year old.
Interesting!  Does that mean that a person becomes, for instance, "10
years old" 9 years and 3 months after birth?

As to the "it" question, I suspect that, at one time, babies weren't
considered completely human, and that that has survived into current
usage.

Myself, I never use "it" for babies, or even for some animals,
presumably animals seen as "humanlike" (for instance, I'd never refer to
a cat as "it", but a roach would be).  Even an unborn child I don't like
to call "it", thus using forms like "the child" when the gender's
unknown.

> I've noticed people using months to describe the age of babies all the way
> up to 24 months/2 years. I heard a comedian once spoofing this concept,
> wondering why adults don't use months for themselves :)
Hmm, interesting idea.  :-)  I guess that makes me 256 months old.
Instead of worrying about the "big 4-0", people would worry about the
big "five thousand".  Sure makes you seem alot older.  :-)

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