Comments are welcome but please have the courtesy to sign your name. Unsigned comments will be deleted.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Male or Female?

If you didn't know it is winter any other way, you could tell by the number of posts I make on my blog. Obviously, I have more time to play around with nonessentials the first couple months of the year.
Pardon me if the following is old and worn out to you. It is amusing, but none of the statements are absolutes. I could not have found a better match if I had waited until today to marry.
An English teacher was explaining to his students the concept of gender association in the English language. He stated how hurricanes at one time were given feminine names and how ships and planes were usually referred to as "she."
One of the students raised a hand and asked "What gender is a computer?"
The teacher wasn't certain, so he divided the class into two groups, males in one, females in the other, and asked them to decide if a computer should be masculine or feminine. 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, for the following reasons:
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 cause 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 men, on the other hand, decided that computers should definitely be referred to in the feminine gender for the following reasons:
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 for later retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

No comments: