la or le computer? You decide!

[bilqis]

This one is pretty even handed, so I decided to take a chance that everyone will be able see the humor in it and not be offended. I apologize to those of you that I've already emailed this to for repeating myself. I do think it's hilarious tho!

(For those of you who do speak French, I hope the French in this one is correct! I know none myself... )

A French instructor was explaining to her class that in French, nouns unlike their English counterparts are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine.

"House," in French, is feminine - "la maison". "Pencil," in French, is masculine -"le crayon".

One puzzled student asked, "What gender is computer?" The teacher did not know, and the word wasn't in her French dictionary. For fun she split the class into two groups appropriately enough, by gender and asked them to decide whether "computer" should be a masculine or feminine noun. Both groups were required to give four reasons for their recommendation.

The men's group decided that computers should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computer"), because they are "more enveloping":
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
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("le computer"), because they are more "intrusive":
1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on
2. They have a lot of data but they are still clueless unless worked
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'd waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better one.


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Having abandoned my
search for truth, I am
now looking for a good
fantasy.

For R³ in thanks:
Sometimes I think I
understand everything,
then I regain consciousness.

[This message has been edited by bilqis (edited 08-11-2001).]

[Redblueflare]

Lol Bilqis! I hadn't read that one yet!

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I just don't have to listen.

[Grojlach]

And here was I thinking computer was translated as l'ordinateur...
Guess I had bad teachers in Highschool...

And yes ordinateur is masculine. I'm not ruining your thread now, am I?

[Xanthul]

Hey Bilqis !! Ive just realized something !! ALL 4 of the reasons why the computer should be masculine can be used to say that it should be feminine !! So i guess that makes 8 reasons for feminine and none for masculine

PS: im kidding, i dont think women are that bad... if you dont believe it look at my sig

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"I miss the Angel... and I mean that I REALLY miss her" -Ertai, Captive of the Blinding Angel

[Grand-Ranger]

i read that along time ago,still funny tho

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[IMG]
URL=http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/noncgi/smiles/Rangereyes.gif
[/IMG]

So if in the forest look behind you, because that where the ranger is going to be

[Yorick]

Very good Bilqis, laughed and laughed. Very funny...

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I am the walrus!.... er, no hang on....

A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!