Subject: What Gender???

A Spanish Teacher was explaining to her class that, in Spanish, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine:

House is feminine ~ la casa.
Pencil 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 guys decided that computer must be feminine (“la computadora”) because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic.

2. The language they use to communicate with each other is incomprehensible.

3. Even small mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible retrieval.

4. As soon as you commit to one, you spend half your pay check on accessories for it.

Sure they had nailed it, the guys started passing around high-fives.

After the teacher restored order, the girls explained (using both internal logic and stellar communication skills) that the boys were mistaken.  Expanding upon their thesis, they concluded that computer must be masculine (“el computador”) because:

1. In order to do anything with one, you have to turn it on first.

2. They have a lot of data, but have to be told what to do.

3. They’re supposed to help solve problems, but often they ARE the problem.

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that . . . if you had waited just a little bit longer . . . you could have gotten a better model.

Aah . . . that’s better!

Source:  E-mail from unknown author (sent by Joe M.)