- Joined
- Jan 4, 2003
- Messages
- 8,044
- Reaction score
- 849
> 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.
> 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.
