what is computer ?
July 9th, 2008
Here is an interesting version of how we treat and think about opposite gender.
Many languages like German, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish have genders for non - living things.
In a spanish class, the teacher explains that in Spanish
House is feminine - ‘la casa’
Pencil is masculine - ‘el lapiz’
A student was thrilled to know this and provoked to ask “Madam what gender is computer?”
The teacher instead of answering the question bifurcated the class into two groups - women and men. The two groups were asked to suggest what gender a computer should be, supporting with four reasons.
After a brief time gap the suggestions were forwarded to the teacher.
Mens’ group:
A computer should be a feminine gender and called ‘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.
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 paycheck on accessories for it.
Womens’ group:
A computer should be a masculine gender and called ‘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 realise that if you had waited a little longer, you could have got a better model.
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