A French teacher was explaining that in French, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. 'House', for instance is feminine--"la maison". 'Pencil', however, is masculine--"le crayon".
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer?'
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into 2 groups, male & female & asked them to decide for themselves whether computer should be a masculine or feminine noun.
Each group was to give 4 reasons for their recommendation.
The men's group decided that the computer should be feminine--'la computer' 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 retrival;
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
However, the female group decided that computers should be masculine--'le computer' 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 suppose to help you solve problems but half the time they ARE the problem;
4. As soon as you make a committment to one, you realize that if you had waited just a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer?'
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into 2 groups, male & female & asked them to decide for themselves whether computer should be a masculine or feminine noun.
Each group was to give 4 reasons for their recommendation.
The men's group decided that the computer should be feminine--'la computer' 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 retrival;
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
However, the female group decided that computers should be masculine--'le computer' 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 suppose to help you solve problems but half the time they ARE the problem;
4. As soon as you make a committment to one, you realize that if you had waited just a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
