I could have used it I guess as I don’t know the gender of it, but what’s wrong with things? I love animals and I didn’t mean to use it in a derogatory way.
in this case, thing isn’t derogative to a native speaker, in my opinion. I can see where your confusion is, though.
my tip would be to look at the other words in the sentence to try and grasp the tone of the entire statement. I know it’s difficult, but you’ll get there… good luck!
Thing is a synonim of stuff and they don’t really have any kind of different connotation. Stuff might be more coloquial, which doesn’t mean thing is formal, I wouldn’t use stuff in a form setting, that’s all.
I just today watch an episode where someone said “you are the thing I love most” to a person as if it was a sign or something but it’s just selective memory.
I’m sorry for being stupid I guess. We are all here to learn.
Why?
I could have used it I guess as I don’t know the gender of it, but what’s wrong with things? I love animals and I didn’t mean to use it in a derogatory way.
Why didn’t you say:
Or stuff still feels more neutral. But I’m not a native speaker of English so maybe “thing” isn’t as derogative as it sounds to me
in this case, thing isn’t derogative to a native speaker, in my opinion. I can see where your confusion is, though.
my tip would be to look at the other words in the sentence to try and grasp the tone of the entire statement. I know it’s difficult, but you’ll get there… good luck!
Thing is a synonim of stuff and they don’t really have any kind of different connotation. Stuff might be more coloquial, which doesn’t mean thing is formal, I wouldn’t use stuff in a form setting, that’s all.
As the other person said, I just don’t believe it’s an issue for native English speakers to use “thing” in that context.
I just today watch an episode where someone said “you are the thing I love most” to a person as if it was a sign or something but it’s just selective memory.
I’m sorry for being stupid I guess. We are all here to learn.