The Spanish Computer


            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 paycheck 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.