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> "It" refers to inanimate objects It may do so in English, but it is Swiss, so probably also speaks German, where 'it' - 'es' is Genus Neutrum, exactly meanin
by tpm 4y ago
> "It" refers to inanimate objects
It may do so in English, but it is Swiss, so probably also speaks German, where 'it' - 'es' is Genus Neutrum, exactly meaning neutral gender. For example 'the child' - 'das Kind' is neutrally gendered. Hope this makes sense.
- ripdog 4y agoMakes sense, but we aren't speaking German here.
- int_19h 4y agoIn English, animals are routinely referred to as "it", and they're obviously animate. So, at most it could be said that "it" doesn't normally refer to persons... but even that's not true if you include sci-fi in your definition of "English language". When dealing with topics such as non-standard biological sex and/or gender fluidity, older sci-fi works would often use "it" for such people without any implication of non-personhood.