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. (THIS GETS BETTER!) 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 gotten a better model. The women won.