IS A COMPUTER MASCILINE OR FEMININE?

A computer instructor was explaining to her class that French nouns, unlike their English counter parts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine. Things like ‘chalk’ or ‘pencil’, she described, would have a gender association although in English these words were neutral. Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked,” What gender is a computer?”
The teacher wasn’t certain which it was and so divided the class into two groups and asked them to decide if a computer should be masculine or feminine. One group was comprised of girls in the class and the other, of boys. Both groups were asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.

The group of girls concluded that computers should be referred to in masculine gender 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 solve your problems, but half he time they are THE problem.

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


The boys, on the other hand, decided that computers should definitely be referred in the feminine gender because:

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

2. The native language they use to communicate with others computers is in comprehensible to every one else.

3. Even your 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 pay check on accessories.

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