A language instructor was explaining to her
class that French nouns, unlike their English
counterparts, are grammatically designated as
masculine or feminine. Things like “chalk” or
“pencil,” she described, would have a gender
association - even though in English, these
words were neutral.
Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked,
“What gender is a computer?”
The teacher wasn’t certain, so divided the class
into two groups and asked them to decide if a
computer should be masculine or feminine. One
group was composed of the women in the class,
and the other, of men. Both groups were asked
to give four reasons for their recommendation.
The group of women concluded that computers
should be referred to in the masculine gender
because:
-
In order to get their attention, you have to
turn them on. -
They have a lot of data but are still
clueless. -
They are supposed to help you solve your
problems, but half the time they are the
problem. -
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 men, on the other hand, decided that
computers should definitely be referred to
as the feminine gender because:
-
No one but their creator understands their
internal logic. -
The native language they use to communicate
with other computers is incomprehensible to
everyone else. -
Even your smallest mistakes are stored in
long-term memory for later retrieval. -
As soon as you make a commitment to one, you
find yourself spending half your paycheck on
accessories for it.
