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Spanish Computer
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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.
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