Like you might have heard, the Duchess of Cambridge Catherine Middleton gave birth to a boy today.
Now on to the grammar.
When announcing a baby's gender, people tend to say "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" Why refer to the baby as "it" when revealing the gender? Connor, a Why Not guest author at some point in time, claims it's to save the surprise for the end of the sentence. That's somewhat logical, but it seems like an overkill. Come on, the sentence is only three words long! Besides, chances are there will be some color or picture clue to reveal the gender accompanying the text.
A less plausible explanation is that it takes less ink to print "It's a girl!" than "She's a girl!", thus making it cheaper for the printer people. Because of all the people who are hell-bent on complete gender equality, the printer people decided to apply it to boy birth announcements as well, seeing as it doesn't take any more letters.
Theory number three is that saying something like "He's a boy!" is like circular logic and seems too obvious. However, just saying "Male!" or "Boy!" would be too vague and straightforward. I suppose "It's a boy!" strikes a weird balance between the two.
Now on to the grammar.
When announcing a baby's gender, people tend to say "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" Why refer to the baby as "it" when revealing the gender? Connor, a Why Not guest author at some point in time, claims it's to save the surprise for the end of the sentence. That's somewhat logical, but it seems like an overkill. Come on, the sentence is only three words long! Besides, chances are there will be some color or picture clue to reveal the gender accompanying the text.
A less plausible explanation is that it takes less ink to print "It's a girl!" than "She's a girl!", thus making it cheaper for the printer people. Because of all the people who are hell-bent on complete gender equality, the printer people decided to apply it to boy birth announcements as well, seeing as it doesn't take any more letters.
Theory number three is that saying something like "He's a boy!" is like circular logic and seems too obvious. However, just saying "Male!" or "Boy!" would be too vague and straightforward. I suppose "It's a boy!" strikes a weird balance between the two.
it would be gender neutral
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