The French Way
A French teacher was explaining to her class that in French, unlike
>>> English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
>>>
>>> "House" is feminine - "la maison"
>>>
>>> "Pencil" is masculine - "le crayon".
>>>
>>> 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 their recommendation.
>>>
>>> The men's group decided that "computer" 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 review
>>> 4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending
>>> half your salary on accessories for it.
>>>
>>> The women's group, however, concluded 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 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 got a better model.
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