Is it funny?

There’s this story…

Theresa, a language teacher, was explaining to her class that in French and several other languages, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

(I do remember my days of high school French!)

“House” for instance is feminine: “la maison.”

“Pencil” however is masculine: “le crayon.”

So, a student asked, ‘What gender is “computer?”

Theresa did not know and the word wasn’t in her French dictionary. So, instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, appropriately by gender, and asked them to decide for themselves whether ‘”computer” should be a masculine or a femine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recomendation.

The men’s group decided that “computer” should definitely be of the feminine gender “la computer” 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 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 computer should be masculine “le computer” 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.
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

P.S. The real French word for computer is “l’ordinateur” (masculine!)

Is this story funny? Why or why not?

Could they have made their points in a neutral or even positive way  (even though it wouldn’t have been funny?) 

 What if the men had said about women:

1. Their logic is awesome.
2. Their ability to communicate is above my understanding.
3. Their ability to remember is amazing.
4. You can’t help wanting to continually support them.

What if the women had said about men:

1. We need to engage with them in order to accomplish something.
2. They know so much and yet want someone to share it with.
3. They are an integral part of my life-the challenges as well as the fun.
4. Their potential for improvement is astounding.

I was just wondering… 

is gender the issue?

and are the differences really true?

So…what do you think?

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