Computer Gender
A language
instructor was explaining to her class that French nouns, unlike their English
counterparts, are grammatically designed as masculine or feminine. Things like
"chalk" or "pencil" have a gender association, although in English
these words are neutral.
Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a computer?" The
teacher wasn't certain which it was and divided the class into two groups; one group all
male, the other all female. They were to decide which gender should be applied to
"computer" and give four reasons for their decision.
The results:
The group of women concluded computers should be referred to in them as 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 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 had a better model.
The group of men decided computers should be referred to in the feminine gender because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory banks for later retrieval;
and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck
on accessories for it.