Computer: masculine or feminine noun?

[Leslie221]

A Spanish language college professor explained to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either feminine or masculine.. "House" for example, is feminine: las casa. "Pencil" on the other hand, 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 themsleves whether "computer" should be a masculine or feine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for their choice.

The male group decided that "computer" should definitely be a feminine word (la compuer) because:

1) No one but their creator understands a computer's internal logic

2) Tha native language they use to communicate with other computers is impossible to understand

3) Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retieval

4) As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

The female goup, however, concluded the computer should be a masculine noun (el 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

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 female group's arguments won.