random question

kaesha

Why do we (as a society, not as a group) say congratulations when people announce the sex of their baby? Usually, when we say congrats, it's because someone has achieved something, or overcome an obstacle. Think graduation, marriage (which says a lot about how our society views singledom), birth. In all these things, there's a chance of failure, you know? Is the congrats thing leftover from days when it was seen as better to have a boy? The things we think about at 3 am...

raynes

Huh.  I never really thought about that, but I can totally see your point.  Maybe "Congrats!  You're not having some mutant hybrid sex child!"

I guess "Yay!" would be a better expression than "Congrats", unless, of course, the couple was using all the "methods" (you know, avoid lemons, eat a pickled herring, dunk your junk in ice, face you wife north) and actually manged to conceive a boy (or girl, as the case may be).

ring_pop

I just wanted to say something nice...

If I didn't say "congrats" when starsailorr announced that she was having a girl, it wasn't because I wasn't happy for the news. It was because a different greeting happened to pop into my head at the time.

"Congrats" was more just to reiterate "congrats for having a baby".

sushisamba

Yeah, I've wondered that to.  It just seems somewhat appropriate in the situation, but not quite sure why.

Similary, I find it odd when people here say congratulations on your birthday. I guess it's an achievement to turn another year older, but I'd never heard that back home before.

NeptoonGrl1

I think it's become more common to say congrats for everything these days.  The congrats is not for having a boy or a girl really, it's more like just a word ppl seem to use to celebrate finding out, which is a pretty big exciting event.

kaesha

Ooh, I can't imagine saying congratulations on someone's birthday. You've made it through another year alive! Good job! That almost reads as a bit morbid, you know?

I'm just musing outloud here, because yes, as a society saying congrats IS something we do in this situation. But, when you think about raynes raises the key point: is there a point in the situation when you wouldn't say congratulations?

The more I think about it, the more it feels like it ties in to the historical gender preference for boys... in which case it could feminist reactionism. But then, to take things one step further, what would you say if the baby was a hermaphrodite, you know? Are we then valuing what is perceived as normal?

Geez, I don't even know where this is coming from. I was awake from 3-4 this morning and now I'm really curious.

ECHC829

raynes:

Huh.  I never really thought about that, but I can totally see your point.  Maybe "Congrats!  You're not having some mutant hybrid sex child!"

I guess "Yay!" would be a better expression than "Congrats", unless, of course, the couple was using all the "methods" (you know, avoid lemons, eat a pickled herring, dunk your junk in ice, face you wife north) and actually manged to conceive a boy (or girl, as the case may be).

That was Legen... wait for it....

 

 

dary!

SusiOT

My answer's the same as ringy's--I almost always say congrats when a pregnancy or the gender is announced because I want to say something in celebration, but can't think of a huge range (kind of like the question for saying something else besides T&Ps a while back). Some typical Nest phrases are too cutesy for my taste (for example, I never, ever use DH or H&H), so I stick to the tried and true.

I think the congrats is more of a celebration of the impending arrival, boy or girl.

MandeeFoFandee

EHayes1183:

raynes:

Huh.  I never really thought about that, but I can totally see your point.  Maybe "Congrats!  You're not having some mutant hybrid sex child!"

I guess "Yay!" would be a better expression than "Congrats", unless, of course, the couple was using all the "methods" (you know, avoid lemons, eat a pickled herring, dunk your junk in ice, face you wife north) and actually manged to conceive a boy (or girl, as the case may be).

That was Legen... wait for it....

 

 

dary!

you beat me to it! 

raynes

MandeeFoFandee:

EHayes1183:

raynes:

Huh.  I never really thought about that, but I can totally see your point.  Maybe "Congrats!  You're not having some mutant hybrid sex child!"

I guess "Yay!" would be a better expression than "Congrats", unless, of course, the couple was using all the "methods" (you know, avoid lemons, eat a pickled herring, dunk your junk in ice, face you wife north) and actually manged to conceive a boy (or girl, as the case may be).

That was Legen... wait for it....

 

 

dary!

you beat me to it! 

I knew you guys would pick up what I was putting down.

Soon2BMrsSikes

I actually thought about the exact same thing yesterday. I tend to say something along the lines of "Oh, how exciting!" which I would say no matter which gender the baby was. I think that's more It's exciting that you found out what you're having, not it's exciting that it's one gender over another.

abarber340

I say congrats more as a congrats on being pregnant than anything else. I'm also not sure what the appropriate response would be otherwise.

starsailorr26

I'd never thought of that before. When I say it, it's "congrats how exciting that you know", as opposed to congratulating on the specific gender. Cause I would say that regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl, KWIM?