organism

[Do228]

Which options can be used here?

How much alien DNA do you have..........

1 in yourself?
2 inside of you?
3 in your body?
4 in your organism?

 

[GoesStation]

Number 3 is possible.

 

[Skrej]

The most natural would probably be either 'do you have' or 'do you have in you'.

 

[Do228]

When #3 is possible, why not #4 as well? I thought a human body is something like an organism.

 

[Raymott]

It is, but we don't call our bodies 'our organisms'. We also don't generally call them a lot of other things that they are, such as "our collections of tissues and cells".

 

[emsr2d2]

If someone said, "How much alien DNA do you have in your organism?", I'd think "What organism? I didn't know I had an organism. I've got a car and a dog but I'm pretty sure I don't own an organism!"

 

[jutfrank]

If someone asked me, "How much alien DNA do you have in your body?", I'd think "Well, there's none outside my body."

 

[Raymott]

I might think it was asking, "How many aliens have you eaten recently?"