What gender is a computer?

[southerngale]

A Language instructor was explaining to her class that French nouns, unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine. Things like 'chalk' or 'pencil,' she described, would have a gender association, although in English these words were neutral.

Puzzled, one student raised his hand and asked, "What gender is a computer?"
The teacher wasn't certain which it was, and so divided the class into two groups and asked them to decide if a computer should be masculine or feminine.

One group was composed of the women in the class, and the other of men. 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 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 men, on the other hand, decided that 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 for later retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

[mf_dolphin]

Definitely female WOrked on them for 20 years now and they are FEMALE

[j]

I have to agree Marshall...only difference is they are tempermental 24/7, not only a week every month.

[mf_dolphin]

ROFLMBO

[therock1811]

ROTFL @ j's post! In Spanish, a computer is a "computadora". So it is a female.

[weatherlover427]

Yep, therock is right. But what about other languages?

[southerngale]

Hey girlfriends, where are ya????

These guys got it all wrong here!!

Computers are definitley masculine....4 good reasons to prove it. The men's recommendations don't really matter because even though they have a lot of data, they are still clueless.

[WidreMann]

In German it is "der Computer" (masculine), just like most other nouns in "-er". However, German has a neuter gender, which, if I were designing the language, I would use for "computer". German decided instead to let "girl" be neuter (go figure). Actually, the reason is simple: any noun ending in "chen" is neuter. "Mädchen" ends in "chen" so it is neuter, even though it refers to a female subject.

It is probably masculine in Latin if we assume the form is "computator". "-Er" is an English suffixed derived a long, long time ago from Latin "-arius". Thus, if we really wanted to be pedantic, we might assume Latin "*computarius", which would still be masculine.

[wx247]

In French it is maculine... (avec) l'ordinateur.

[JQ Public]

Its gotta be a woman! They crash all the time jk!!!

[southerngale]

Where are all the female members???????

[wx247]

Maybe they are accepting the inevitable!!! LOL! j/k

[southerngale]

No way! They're just not reading this. I guess I could change the title to ALL GIRLS CLICK HERE!! lol

By the way, I LOVE your patriotic Garfield!!!

[wx247]

Thanks Southerngale!

[azskyman]

The jury is still out on my computer. You tell ME what gender it is.

First of all it requires me to be perfect in order for it to work.

Second, it is always slow when I am in a hurry.

Third, it often loses the most important things on it.

Fourth, it goes to sleep if I neglect it for just five minutes

Fifth, it is slowest on weekends, and fastest at 2 am.

Sixth, it never has enough memory.

and finally, it attracts "mails" from places I would never think of going.

[southerngale]

That settles it azskyman - definitely male!!!!!!!

[pojo]

LOL poppysky

As for my laptop...that's still an issue out in left field somewhere...

As for my mom's computer...its definitely a male!