[Athens]

Don't know if this has been posted before but its pretty funny.

What Gender Is A Computer?

An English teacher was explaining 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 their hand and asked, "What gender is a computer"?

The teacher wasn't certain which it was, 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 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 the smallest mistakes are stored in their 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.



Hope noone has posted this before

[MacPoker101]

In Hebrew, nouns are divided into male & female, computer is male.

[loki74]

And isnt it feminine is spanish? (la computadora?)

I dunno... I would probably go with feminine myself. I consider my guitars feminine... why not my Mac?

And bedsides, in movies/TV computers are usually chicks. The ones that talk and sh!t I mean.

[ShotgunEd]

Originally Posted by loki74

And isnt it feminine is spanish? (la computadora?)

I dunno... I would probably go with feminine myself. I consider my guitars feminine... why not my Mac?

And bedsides, in movies/TV computers are usually chicks. The ones that talk and sh!t I mean.

Yeah, in spanish its female, computadora or ordinadora.

[andreas_g4]

It's funny! I think, the better explanation is the one from the male group…

[angelmb]

Well… there is a difference between spanish from Spain where it is male and the spanish from latino america where it is female. Anyway the right female form is 'computadora' as ShotgunEd says, 'ordinadora' isn't.

[Seb G]

In German, computers are male. And I think this is perfectly reasonable, because computer programmers understand computers, so they cannot be female.

And guitars are female, BTW.

[ShotgunEd]

Originally Posted by angelmb

Well… there is a difference between spanish from Spain where it is male and the spanish from latino america where it is female. Anyway the right female form is 'computadora' as ShotgunEd says, 'ordinadora' isn't.

You are correct.

Ordinador (male)
Computadora (female)

both can be used in castillian spanish.

Its been a while since I've had to say computer in spanish

[JoshuaZ]

Hmmm.... with all the problems I've seen they must be female.

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by ShotgunEd

You are correct.

Ordinador (male)
Computadora (female)

both can be used in castillian spanish.

Its been a while since I've had to say computer in spanish

Right, just a little correction, it is 'ordenador' instead of 'ordinador'.

[rickey939]

It's definitely a dude. My friend has a brother, and his uncle Julio has a cousin named Jose. Jose has a male dog named "Mac"...therefore, I rest my case with evidence.

[ghporter]

Here in San Antonio, I've seen "computer" translated as "computador," a masculine noun. Is this simply a regional difference?

Anyway, most of the time I try to think of computers as neuter, like "wrench" or "table." That way I don't take it personally when they do something unexpected, as I would if something alive did a bad thing.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Originally Posted by Seb G

In German, computers are male. And I think this is perfectly reasonable, because computer programmers understand computers, so they cannot be female.

And guitars are female, BTW.

Yes, but doesn't German tend to assign gender of nouns mostly by sound? E.g. things ending in -ung are generally feminine, things ending in -ug generally masculine, things ending in -e usually either feminine or neuter, nouns ending in -chen are neuter, so that Mädchen is neuter even though it refers to a female human being, and so on.

That was one of the biggest things I had to try to get my head around as an English speaker when I was studying German. The gender assigned to a noun has nothing whatsoever qualitatively to do with the thing the noun represents.

Is this rule different for foreign nouns?

[gururafiki]

Computers are female. Dudes & chicks love to touch them, and you plug things into them!

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by loki74

I dunno... I would probably go with feminine myself. I consider my guitars feminine... why not my Mac?

That is because most are shaped like a woman.

[RAILhead]

It depends, but there's a fool-proof way to find out:

1. Get a length of string, the thinner the better, about 2 feet long.

2. Tie a weight to the end (the "real" way to do this is to thread a needle and stick the needle into a cork).

3. Hold the tester over the item you want to gender-test and DO NOT move your hand. Eventually, the weight will begin to move on its own.

4. If the weight moves in a circle, the person/animal/thing is female. If the weight moves back and forth, it's a male.

This works 100% of the time if you do it correctly, and it's a "test" that's been around for hundreds of years. You can also use this to find out the gender of a baby once the kiddo is big enough.

[OreoCookie]

In German it's male

[wdlove]

I have always thought of them as gender neutral.

[loki74]

Originally Posted by Kevin

That is because most are shaped like a woman.

actually, my understanding of it is that that was origianlly on purpose? Heh, but I dont have any typical guitar shapes, except for my acoustic which I almost never play. I use a Rhoads V and an explorer. Both samicks, which is kind of lame. I would love to get a Jackson RhoadsPro, but thats a little bit of a hefty pricetag for me now...


...sorry for derail. I guess I consider pretty much all of the tools i use to express my creativity as feminine. Not to mention that despite how good macs are, they can still be frustrating some times... like women. So windows PCs are like crazy ugly feminist women, while macs are like cool, easy going hot chichks. I think the analogy fits in pretty well, myself

[Salty]

No no no no no! You guys have it all wrong!

Desktops are male
Notebooks are female!

How's this? Desktops have power chords

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Here in San Antonio, I've seen "computer" translated as "computador," a masculine noun. Is this simply a regional difference?

Both (el) computador y (la) computadora are fine. However it is only (el) ordenador

cheers

W-Y

[Fyre4ce]

Originally Posted by Salty

No no no no no! You guys have it all wrong!

Desktops are male
Notebooks are female!

How's this? Desktops have power chords

I think you mean "cord" but my PowerBook has a power cord too....

[Salty]

Originally Posted by Fyre4ce

I think you mean "cord" but my PowerBook has a power cord too....

No you have a power adapter. Which is an add on coming from laptops having power cord envy!

[nredman]

my computer is male - unless its showing porn, then its a dirty female slut

[loki74]

Originally Posted by Salty

How's this? Desktops have power chords

I'm assuming by power chord you don't mean any given note in two consecutive octaves plus the perfect fifth of that note? (Or more commonly just any given note and its perfect fifth)

Well that logic doesnt quite work, because either way you have to plug IN the power cord both into the wall and the computer, adapter or no. I've never seen a computer that had its power cord actually attached to it, like that of a vacuum cleaner or floor lamp or pretty much anything else that has a power cord.

And then does that mean that walls (that have outlets) are feminine?

[Tesseract]

My current Mac is named after (Clare) Torry, so she's female.
I follow a "Macs are female, Linux/Windows PCs are male" naming convention, generally.

[bstone]

Machshev. It is in the male form. However the word "Machshavah" (thought), which comes from the same word as Machshav (computer) is in the female form.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Salty

No you have a power adapter. Which is an add on coming from laptops having power cord envy!

Now I'm confused.

So my Mac mini is a laptop ?

-t

[TheoCryst]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

My current Mac is named after (Clare) Torry, so she's female.
I follow a "Macs are female, Linux/Windows PCs are male" naming convention, generally.

I find myself doing that too. Macs are obsessed with appearance, while PCs only care about getting the job done, quick and dirty.

Another way of looking at it: computers in general are female, while accessories are male. Just think about how the ports work... hell, they are even called male and female ports. And honestly, when was the last time you saw a male port on a computer?

[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by TheoCryst

And honestly, when was the last time you saw a male port on a computer?

The COM ports (RS-232 serial) on most PCs have male connectors.

[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by turtle777

Now I'm confused.

So my Mac mini is a laptop ?

-t

It has laptop components, and it would fit in your lap...

now I'm confused.

[cenutrio]

Funny