Spanish Lessons

 
 
 
A Spanish Teacher was explaining
To her class that in Spanish, unlike
English, nouns are designated as
either masculine or feminine.

'House' for instance, is feminine:
'la casa.' Pencil,' however, is
masculine: 'el lapiz.'

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
its recommendation.

The men's group decided that
'computer' should definitely be
of the feminine gender ('la
computadora'), 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.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however,
concluded that computers should
be Masculine ('el computador'),
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
gotten a better model.

The women won.