Edouard Bastarache Inc. on sun 20 aug 06
Computer Gender
A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike=20
English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."
"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two=20
groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves=20
whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.
Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the=20
feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is=20
incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for=20
possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending=20
half your paycheck on accessories for it.
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be=20
Masculine ("el computador"), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they=20
ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a=20
little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
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