--- Forwarded Message from "Daniel E. Meyers" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 08:41:02 -0500
>To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],        [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
>From: "Daniel E. Meyers" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Computer Gender
>Cc: "Meyers, Dale & Elaina" <[log in to unmask]>

Forgive the brashness of this E-mail, but I thought it was just too 
good to just keep to myself. Dan.
=============================


A language instructor was explaining to her class that Spanish nouns, 
unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as 
masculine or feminine.  Things like "chalk" or "pencil" have a gender 
association, although in English these words are neutral.

Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a computer?"

The teacher wasn't certain which it was, and divided the class into 
two groups; one group all male, the other all female. They were to 
decide which gender should be applied to "computer" and give four 
reasons for their decision.
        
The results:

The group of women concluded computers should be referred to in the 
masculine gender because:
1.  In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
2.  They have a lot of data but are still clueless.
3.  They are supposed to help you solve your 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 had a better model.

The group of men decided computers should definitely be referred to 
in the feminine gender 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 your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory banks 
for later retrieval.
4.  As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself 
spending half of your paycheck buying accessories for it.

-- 
===========================================================
Daniel E. Meyers - Director of the Interactive Language Resource Center
47 Irvin Hall, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056-1848
Office: (513) 529-2510  -  Lab: (513) 529-4505  -  Fax: (513) 529-1807
Pager: (513) 820-0219 - ICQ: 61294172 - E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
WWW: http://www.cas.muohio.edu/~ilrc/
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