le computer vs. la computer

[Guest guest]

In French, unlike English, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. For

fun, a teacher once divided her French class into two groups, with men in

one group and women in the other, and asked each group to decide whether

the

French word for computer should be masculine ( " le computer " ), or feminine

( " la computer " ).

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 retrieve and review.

4). As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending

half

your pay check 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.

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.