English questions

[jcb]

How often do you call an animal "he" or "she" as opposed to "it"? I don't own any pets, and don't consider myself an "animal person", so I usually call an animal "it", but I've noticed that people who own pets and consider themselves an "animal person" are more likely to use "he/she". So, what is the threshold that makes an animal deserving of "he/she"? Is it just knowing whether it's male or female, knowing it's name, or something else?

[vlad]

How often do you call an animal "he" or "she" as opposed to "it"? I don't own any pets, and don't consider myself an "animal person", so I usually call an animal "it", but I've noticed that people who own pets and consider themselves an "animal person" are more likely to use "he/she". So, what is the threshold that makes an animal deserving of "he/she"? Is it just knowing whether it's male or female, knowing it's name, or something else?

Wild animals are usually "it". Sometimes people refer to wild animals as "he"/"she" in a jokey way. Like if they see a wild animal doing something funny, they might say something like "What's he up to?" (regardless of the animal's actual sex).

I would expect all pet owners to refer to their own pets as "he"/"she", regardless of whether they consider themselves as an "animal person". A pet owner calling their own pet "it" would be bizarre. And I think referring to another person's pet as "it" could be offensive. It makes you sound like Cruella de Vil.

Basically using gendered pronouns "humanizes" them, for lack of a better word.

[Darren]

There's two different things at play for me - 1) the use of he/she to reflect an animal's sex, and 2) the use of he/she as a vague sort of animacy-increasing device. (1) is pretty simple; higher animals with known sex can take he/she, although not invariably, and less often if they're a working animal. I'd call my cat she, but I know farmers who'd call their cats "it".

(2) is more complicated; especially in Australia, he and more often she can take the place of "it" when referring to anything, and I'm not sure how to define their usage. Some factors involved are
- Register - to mark colloquial register, objects or dummy subjects can be "she", which is a sort of AusEng shibboleth
- Gnomic copular statements are more likely to take "she" ("she'll be right", "she's too wide" etc., not referring to people)
- For lack of a better word "higher" (more animate?) things can take "he/she", like animals, cars, boats, cities and so on

(2) can probably overlap with (1), so it's conceivable that even a male animal could be referred to as "she", but not I don't think if it would usually be called 'he".

[Travis B.]

To me 'he'/'she' depends on domestication/petness and how 'high' an animal is but there are no firm rules. For instance most pets to me would take 'he'/'she', but some 'lower' pets like lizards could take 'it'. As for non-pet domesticated animals, 'higher' ones like cattle are likely to take 'he'/'she'. And as for wild animals, they generally take 'it' but 'higher' ones may take 'he'/'she' when used to emphasize their sex or 'high'-ness.