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 lapis.�
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 (�elcomputador�), 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.
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