gender of computer fw

French Computers

A language instructor was explaining to her class that in French, nouns unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine.

French Computers

``House,` in French, is feminine - `la maison` and `Pencil,` in French, is masculine `le crayon.``

One puzzled student asked, `What gender is `computer`?`

The teacher did not know, and the word wasn`t in her French dictionary.

So for fun she split the class into two groups appropriately enough, by gender and asked them to decide whether `computer` should be a masculine or feminine noun. Both groups were required to give four reasons for their recommendation.

The men`s group decided that computers should definitely be of the feminine gender (`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 retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

The women`s group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine (`le computer`), because:

1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but they are still clueless;

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`d waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.