Are computers male or female?

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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 money on accessories for it.

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 had you waited a
little longer, you could have got a better model. 

The women won.

Thanks Gene

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5 thoughts on “Are computers male or female?”

  2. women’s #4 applies to men too. However, it’s a simple manner of anatomy. As Selms Hayek said in Dogma, “What defines a woman lies between her legs” (or something similar.) If computers were male, they would plug in to accessories such as mice, microphones, and usb drives. But since those accessories do the plugging, computers are female.

    This also implies computers like to be plugged in many holes at once

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