Computer Gender

As a followup to my previous post on my first computer years of training in the field led me to agree with the following analysis.


An email from one of Mrs. T's legion of female correspondents....

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.

 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.