Computer Gender

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that
in Spanish, unlike 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 groups, male and female, and asked
them to decide for themselves 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 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 incomprehensible to
everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long
term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.



The women's group, however, concluded that
computers should be 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 ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have better model.