A little humour - November 2009
Masculine or feminine - an old controversy, revitalised.
A language teacher was explaining to her class that Spanish nouns, unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine. Things like "chalk" or "pencil", she described, would have a gender association. For example - "house" is feminine, "la casa". In English, of course, common nouns are of neutral gender.
Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a computer ?" The teacher responded that it could be either - "el ordenador" or "la computadora". She decided that it would be a good idea to decide which one of them to use in class, so she divided the class into two groups and asked them to decide if a computer should be masculine or feminine. One group was comprised of women in the class and the other, of the men. Both groups were asked to supply four reasons for their recommendation.
The MEN decided that computers should be referred to in the feminine gender 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 later retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
The WOMEN however concluded that computers should be referred to in the masculine gender because :
1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.("To turn on" has 2 meanings: 1. Encender, 2. Excitar, Stimular)
2. They have a lot of data but are nonetheless clueless. (without common sense)
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem.
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that, had you waited a little longer, you could have had a better model.
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