There are actually a number of species of weta, about 70. (I'm especially fond of the tusked weta. Cue Fleetwood Mac.) Sixteen of them are considered to be at risk. There are about ten giant weta species; the largest used to occur all over the North Island, now it's found only on a small offshore island.

Thanks BT

{{Bonnie}}

Totally understandable Sarameg.

Wouldn't it be better to use that or just...ask?

In my cousin's case, he uses male pronouns when referring to himself in writing, so I do as well.

In the case of the Jezebel article, I don't think it's oppressive or inappropriately limiting to call a baby girl a baby girl. If the baby girl learns to talk and tells everyone she's a boy and they've had it wrong for two years, then you switch. You still don't get to call human beings it.

It's not morbid or weird to me. You knew him, you loved him. And you honored that.

This. Very much this.

my resistance to Tom Cruise and Yet Another Mission Impossible movie

If it's anything in either direction, I saw a clip of a fight scene with the female lead, and she was absolutely awful. Having recently watched Knight and Day and finding myself wanting to purge myself in fire to remove the memory, I feel pretty good with my decision to say away.

Yeah, I think it's pretty common that no one wants to be "it". And that an Afghan toddler being raised in prison because her mother was jailed for being a rape victim? Okay, she has bigger problems than being called "it", but *much* bigger problems than being identified as the wrong gender. Along the lines of being treated like an object, amongst others.

The baby? Clearly not transgendered. Give her time. The poster? Quite possibly up their own ass.

You still don't get to call human beings it.

I agree, but I wonder how/when this developed. I've definitely seen characters in Victorian novels referring to young children as "it" with no one questioning it -- I think it was Wuthering Heights where I noticed it constantly, but I've definitely seen it in other books from that period, too.

My grandmother thought it was rude to refer to someone with any pronoun when that person was present. If the person is in front of you, you refer to that person by name. So, like, if I was telling my sister to give something to my grandmother, I couldn't say "Give this to her." It had to be "Give this to Oma."

Not when he was Penn, the vampire?

::penny drops::

I could not, for the life of me, figure out where I had seen him before. I assumed it was commercials for other movies. I suppose I should have IMDb'd him, but I is lazy.

sarameg, I 'm so sorry, I forgot to give condolences on MK. He had a great life with you.

Every time I see him, I do a little AtS cheer.

It's not morbid or weird to me. You knew him, you loved him. And you honored that.

What I wanted to say and couldn't express. You loved him.

I agree, but I wonder how/when this developed. I've definitely seen characters in Victorian novels referring to young children as "it" with no one questioning it -- I think it was Wuthering Heights where I noticed it constantly, but I've definitely seen it in other books from that period, too.

I've heard older folks do this a lot. My grandmother often referred to me as "it", often in my presence, until I was maybe 12 years old. I think she thought she was being affectionate.