A French teacher was explaining to her class that in French, unlike
English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
"House" is feminine -- "la maison."
"Pencil" is masculine -- "le crayon."
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 their recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the
feminine gender ("la computer"), 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" le computer"), 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.