Correct. Using it to describe a person is considered dehumanizing and disrespectful. Though I get the impression that is how that mom is supposed to come off.
I would agree that “they” is more common, and certainly what most people would use if writing or thinking, but I can easily imagine quite a few native English speakers blurting out “it.”
“It” is inanimate, “they” are plural, “she” is female, “he” is male or gender-unspecified.
This is down to how English developed as a language, with bit cribbed from Latin/German/Norse/French et cetera… Thus “him” (male), “her” (female), and “him” (gender-unspecified) come from the German Dative pronouns “ihm” (male), “ihr” (female) and “ihm” (inanimate/gender-unspecified)
English just fully-separated the inanimate and gender-unspecified into “it” and “him”, then extended the male/gender-unspecified correlation from the Dative and Genitive to cover the Nominative and Accusative as well.
(So, “special snowflakes” who refuse to subscribe to existing gender identities already have a set of long-established pronouns – they just so happen to match the male ones. But I only mention this to the really annoying ones who get right in your face about it…)
Well, given you just mentioned it to someone who wasn’t getting right in your face about it, I’d just like to only mention that your explanation is both (a) a summary of a certain Received View that is (b) as it happens completely historically and linguistically inaccurate. The usage of “they” as a gender neutral singular pronoun is as old and established as such a thing as the English language itself. It’s well known that it’s used in that way by canonical English authors from Chaucer to Dickens via Shakespeare, Austen and Thackeray. It’s only since the 19th Century that grammarians have attempted to retrospectively fit rules over English that were never actually followed in practice. So the answer is: yes, English does indeed have a perfectly good gender neutral singular pronoun that’s been used throughout it’s history. But it’s not “him”, it’s “they”.
I’m not a native English-speaker but I’m sure I learned that “it” is used for babies and animals, who are all setient. Or do you really imagine your cat is not a lot smarter than you? It’s in the definition of “cat” in every dictionary… or should be.
No, my cats are dumb. I use male and female pronouns for them, because they’re not inanimate and I know what gender they are. I do use “it” for animals of unknown gender, though.
Try to call a baby “it” in front of their parent, and see how happy they are.
Only recently have English speakers become squeamish about “it” for babies. Read literature not even 100 years old and you will encounter it frequently–normally, in fact–for babies. And even doting Mommies would use it for their own small babes. Its use is less common now, but I still here it for smal
Nope… The English gender-unspecified pronouns are the same as the male pronouns, as a result of how the language developed from other languages. “It” is inanimate, whereas animate-gender-unspecified would be “he”.
This is similar to how the “-man” in “chairman”/”businessman”, and so on, is technically derived from the Germanic “Man” (referring to humanity in general) rather than the Germanic “Mann” (male human)
English just dropped the second “n”, and made things confusing… Hence, the German feminists claiming “Chairman” should be “Chairfrau” are clearly making a joke (it’s not “Chairmann”) whereas it’s harder to tell with the English-speaking equivalent
Not really but the subject is really debatable and ultimately very pedantic and silly. The best thing to do would be what the teasing children did and use her proper name. Another acceptable way of approaching it if you don’t know the name is “Are we sure this child is a girl? or “Are we sure this person is female.”
This is getting interesting.
And more and more likely to have Eva move out of the main cast’s house/team.
Because they don’t have room for anyone competent.
Actually i think they do. We have seen the team fail in a thousand different funny ways, but allowing them an occational win or atleast the concept that a win might be possible if they dont mess up (yeah right) could lead to a whole lot of good humour. I am all for making Buccaress atleast semi-competent.
Actually, we’ve known she was called Eva from her first appearance (040, Old Enemies), when Distractella, Evil Savant and Cat-A-Pult kidnapped her cat and forced her to assume to role as Buckaress.
It’s amazing how ONE adult’s thoughtless comment in the presence of children can lead into a humiliating moment that will haunt them the rest of their life.
A music teacher made a joke at me when I was a kid that the class latched onto mercilessly. I haven’t sang, danced or played an instrument since. She shamed the music out of me.
Would you like to sing a quiet little song now? Please do. Nobody will hear it, so you don’t need to worry about that. Just sing–quiet and low. Seriously, can I give you permission to do that, or is that presumptuous of me?
….”it” ? What, you even doubt she’s sentient ?
“It” is used for Children, regardless of gender.
And also it sounds perfectly reasonable in a case like this, where the speaker is deliberately not wanting to commit to either sex.
Odd, I’ve never come across this. Normally, if a gender neutral pronoun is needed, “they” is what is used. ‘It’ is for objects.
Correct. Using it to describe a person is considered dehumanizing and disrespectful. Though I get the impression that is how that mom is supposed to come off.
I would agree that “they” is more common, and certainly what most people would use if writing or thinking, but I can easily imagine quite a few native English speakers blurting out “it.”
“It” is inanimate, “they” are plural, “she” is female, “he” is male or gender-unspecified.
This is down to how English developed as a language, with bit cribbed from Latin/German/Norse/French et cetera… Thus “him” (male), “her” (female), and “him” (gender-unspecified) come from the German Dative pronouns “ihm” (male), “ihr” (female) and “ihm” (inanimate/gender-unspecified)
English just fully-separated the inanimate and gender-unspecified into “it” and “him”, then extended the male/gender-unspecified correlation from the Dative and Genitive to cover the Nominative and Accusative as well.
(So, “special snowflakes” who refuse to subscribe to existing gender identities already have a set of long-established pronouns – they just so happen to match the male ones. But I only mention this to the really annoying ones who get right in your face about it…)
‘They’ can also function as a singular pronoun without denoting gender.
Well, given you just mentioned it to someone who wasn’t getting right in your face about it, I’d just like to only mention that your explanation is both (a) a summary of a certain Received View that is (b) as it happens completely historically and linguistically inaccurate. The usage of “they” as a gender neutral singular pronoun is as old and established as such a thing as the English language itself. It’s well known that it’s used in that way by canonical English authors from Chaucer to Dickens via Shakespeare, Austen and Thackeray. It’s only since the 19th Century that grammarians have attempted to retrospectively fit rules over English that were never actually followed in practice. So the answer is: yes, English does indeed have a perfectly good gender neutral singular pronoun that’s been used throughout it’s history. But it’s not “him”, it’s “they”.
End pedantic-ness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_and_gender-neutral_pronouns#Historical_and_dialectal_gender-neutral_pronouns
I’m not a native English-speaker but I’m sure I learned that “it” is used for babies and animals, who are all setient. Or do you really imagine your cat is not a lot smarter than you? It’s in the definition of “cat” in every dictionary… or should be.
No, my cats are dumb. I use male and female pronouns for them, because they’re not inanimate and I know what gender they are. I do use “it” for animals of unknown gender, though.
Try to call a baby “it” in front of their parent, and see how happy they are.
Only recently have English speakers become squeamish about “it” for babies. Read literature not even 100 years old and you will encounter it frequently–normally, in fact–for babies. And even doting Mommies would use it for their own small babes. Its use is less common now, but I still here it for smal
[Dumb cat. Get off the keyboard.]
…but I still hear it used for small babies.
Only three of my cats are smarter than me.
It’s Shitropolis…frankly there’s no telling.
A victim of sexism then. This is a superhero comic I guess… there is nothing that can’t be retconned into having a tragic backstory :v
Also, “it” is a valid gender neutral pronoun.
Nope… The English gender-unspecified pronouns are the same as the male pronouns, as a result of how the language developed from other languages. “It” is inanimate, whereas animate-gender-unspecified would be “he”.
This is similar to how the “-man” in “chairman”/”businessman”, and so on, is technically derived from the Germanic “Man” (referring to humanity in general) rather than the Germanic “Mann” (male human)
English just dropped the second “n”, and made things confusing… Hence, the German feminists claiming “Chairman” should be “Chairfrau” are clearly making a joke (it’s not “Chairmann”) whereas it’s harder to tell with the English-speaking equivalent
Not really but the subject is really debatable and ultimately very pedantic and silly. The best thing to do would be what the teasing children did and use her proper name. Another acceptable way of approaching it if you don’t know the name is “Are we sure this child is a girl? or “Are we sure this person is female.”
Yes Eva, you are definitely a girl, but that doesn’t exclude you from being able to throw!
Well kids are mean. And dumb.
Adults too.
So, these kind of things happen^^
This is getting interesting.
And more and more likely to have Eva move out of the main cast’s house/team.
Because they don’t have room for anyone competent.
Actually i think they do. We have seen the team fail in a thousand different funny ways, but allowing them an occational win or atleast the concept that a win might be possible if they dont mess up (yeah right) could lead to a whole lot of good humour. I am all for making Buccaress atleast semi-competent.
OOoooooooo goody emotional trauma story time
Just think about it Bucky, It’s impossible for anyone to think you’re a boy NOW. What with your… *ehem* “assets” if you will.
What do you mean? Now let me keep staring at the bottom part of last panel… *slobbering*
Gender profiling.
This explains how she dresses now, she is compensating for her self-perceived lack of femininity!
And it accounts for her promiscuity, too.
Wait a sec. That little girl to the right. Could she be a young Good Girl ? She do look a lot like her.
Tragic backstory, another essential part of any superhero!
XD
Nope… sorry… somehow I can’t see Bucky at anything but a girl :)
…well this just got dark all of a sudden!
This is how super-villains are created.
The more of Eva, the better in my opinion. I’m loving this character development!
Ditto. She even has a name now!
Actually, we’ve known she was called Eva from her first appearance (040, Old Enemies), when Distractella, Evil Savant and Cat-A-Pult kidnapped her cat and forced her to assume to role as Buckaress.
It’s amazing how ONE adult’s thoughtless comment in the presence of children can lead into a humiliating moment that will haunt them the rest of their life.
A music teacher made a joke at me when I was a kid that the class latched onto mercilessly. I haven’t sang, danced or played an instrument since. She shamed the music out of me.
Would you like to sing a quiet little song now? Please do. Nobody will hear it, so you don’t need to worry about that. Just sing–quiet and low. Seriously, can I give you permission to do that, or is that presumptuous of me?
…That’s messed up.
So now, how do exploding kitchens play into this…?
This hits quite a few nerves. There’s even movements to try to counter how awfully common this is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs
#LikeAGirl