Re:how to completely own an airline in 3 easy steps
by rightbyte on Friday January 20, 2023 @04:21AM
(#34450701)
"Child" is gender neutral and was historically neuter when English had genders.
I guess calling a child "it" is impersonal. Calling it "it" to its face is just strange since "it" is 3rd person.
Re:how to completely own an airline in 3 easy steps
by thaumasiotes on Friday January 20, 2023 @07:11AM
(#34451991)
> "Child" is gender neutral and was historically neuter when English had genders.
By 1902, that time was several hundred years in the past.
> Calling [a child] "it" to its face is just strange since "it" is 3rd person.
Sure, but I haven't mentioned any such usage.
Re:how to completely own an airline in 3 easy steps
by rsynnott on Friday January 20, 2023 @11:39AM
(#34455617)
> However, one of the characters is a human baby who is always referred to with the pronoun "it". I glossed right over that reading the book as a child, but I found it pretty disturbing rereading as an adult.
While it's uncommon today (and I think uncommon even by the time that book was written), use of 'it' for babies was definitely A Thing at one point.
Re:how to completely own an airline in 3 easy steps
by selimthegrim on Friday January 20, 2023 @01:36PM
(#34457595)
‘Yotsu’ in Japan was used to refer to low caste/outcaste people
Claudette Colvin was called it by the police when she was arrested
But I do have a trans friend who prefers it pronouns so that’s a sample size of one in the opposite direction
> I'd feel uncomfortable referring to anyone as "it" though
In Five Children and It (published in 1902), the "It" of the title is a magical creature. However, one of the characters is a human baby who is always referred to with the pronoun "it". I glossed right over that reading the book as a child, but I found it pretty disturbing rereading as an adult.
However, once rereading the book had called the phenomenon to my attention, I noticed that it's not uncommon for me to want to refer to a generic child as "it". I wouldn't refer to a specific child that way.
So referring to a person as "it" is sometimes the normal thing to do. (And, of course, intensely inappropriate at other times.) On the other hand, the intro appears to specify that maia arson crimew wants people to use "she", an exclusively subject pronoun, as the object pronoun for she. That is deeply unnatural and virtually nobody will be able to comply; it's much worse than using "it" for a person.