Computer's gender

 A language instructor was explaining to her class that in French, nouns
 unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine
 or feminine. "House," in French, is feminine - "la maison." "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 a 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 retrireview;

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.

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