A language instructor 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 generally are
of neutral gender.
Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a
computer?" The teacher said that depending on which Spanish you  used,
that of Spain or Latin American Spanish, it could be either one:
ordenador or computadora. But she thought it would be good to decide on
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 the women in the class, and the other of
men. Both groups were asked to give four reasons for their
recommendation.

The MEN decided that computers should definitely be referred to in
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 later
retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending
half your paycheque on accessories for it.

The group of WOMEN, however, concluded that computers should be
referred to in the masculine gender (el ordenador) because:
1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data but are still clueless.
3. They are supposed to help you solve your problems, but half the time
they ARE the problem.
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realise that, if  you had waited a
little longer, you could have had a  better model.












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