House'  for instance, is feminine: 'la Casa.'
'Pencil,' however, is  masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is  'computer'?'

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher  split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked  them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a  masculine or a feminine noun.. Each group was asked to give  four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group  decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine  gender ('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 else;

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.

(THIS  GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded  that computers should be Masculine ('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;  
    
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..

The women won.