Deedee
08-30-2008, 05:20 AM
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 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 pay 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, 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.
> English, nouns are designated as either masculine or 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 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 pay 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, 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.