Tuesday, February 19, 2013

'What gender is 'computer'?'

This has been around before but still good for a chuckle or three.


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', while 'Pencil 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 gotten a better model.

The women won. 

5 comments:

  1. I got a good laugh out of that. Thanks for posting it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Damn, you had me on the feminine, but then my wife read it and declared it Masculine (and who am I to argue?)
    the Ol'Buzzard

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yep, that one's always good for a chuckle! I shall tactfully refrain from taking sides...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Two theories on winning an argument with a woman. Neither one works.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your chances of winning an argument with a woman are Fat and Slim.

      Delete

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