A Spanish Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine ou 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 divisé, split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine ou 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 toi make a commitment to one, toi 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, toi 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 toi solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as toi commit to one, toi realize that if toi had waited a little longer, toi could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
