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maybe they don't know the gender and playing it like at parties when you don't remember someone's boyfriend name.

No because several times they directly quote people talking about Tang and editorialize the quote to use [Tang] where a pronoun would have been.

I used to know a chap called Colin who's dog was called John, or was it the other way around? I could never remember so never used their name.

Would have been easier if the dog was called Fido.