why does everyone want to know the sex of the baby?

I have recently attended a friends baby shower in which I didn't know the sex of said baby until I walked in the door. So it struck me odd that as a mom of soon to be 3 why people ask if you know the sex of your baby? It occurred to me that most people ask but its used more in a conversational way to chit chat. Soo if your not buying me a gift thats geared towards the sex why should it matter if you know anyway? Am I making sense? I don't want to be mean but I did happen to ponder on this for all of a few seconds. I needed to think about something other than buying a new house! AWWWWW anyone else want to pull out my hair for me? Oh btw Nick still doesn't know....YEA me! I sooo rock!!!