How can an entity powerful enough to stop the advance of the world’s greatest armies go by the generic name of “It”? You would think that something which ruins picnics and causes June brides to either smile or cry could be referred to by a more prestigious title! Oh, it has a name—but that name is rarely spoken except on a television channel dedicated to the vagrancies of the subject we are discussing.
“It” may be the most common conversation starter (and finisher!) world wide—except possibly in places like Hawaii where “It” is reported to be the same day in and day out around the year. Certainly in Wisconsin, “It” has top billing—ranking right up there with the stomach flu in winter, and the topic of “Who is throwing up this week?”
Once in awhile I hear “It” called by a gender pronoun, which is invariably “She”. Now that just isn’t fair. I don’t mind when ships are called “She” because there is a stately beauty and aura of romance to ships—especially the ocean bound sailing galleons of antiquity. But “She” applied to something so outrageously unpredictable and capricious as “It”, is—in my opinion—just downright insulting!
“It” is especially predominate in telephone and post office lobby conversations—or in supermarket lines when strangers feel they need to talk to the person standing in front of or behind them. “It” can even upstage proclamations about the constantly rising food prices and the need to sleuth out the store for every possible bargain.
By the way, how is “It” in your neighborhood today? Here “It” is raw and windy—just like “It” is supposed to be on a March day in Wisconsin. But “It” is giving us a lovely, early spring.
Margaret L. Been ©2012
