A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that nouns in Spanish are referred to as either masculine or feminine, unlike English.
For example, “House” is feminine: “la casa”.
However, “pencil” is masculine: “el lapiz”.
A student asked, “What gender is ‘computer’?”
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher divided 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 their recommendation.
The group of men decided that “computer” should definitely be of the feminine gender (“la computadora“), because:
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
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.
3. Even the smallest errors are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval;
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
(IT GETS BETTER!)
However, the group of women came to the conclusion that “computer” should be Masculine (“el computador“), because:
1. To be able 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’re supposed to help you solve the problems, but half the time they’re the problem;
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!
