Who Talks More: Men or Women?
About the stereotype that women talk more than men. But do they?
Well, I’ve eavesdropped on several conversations lately while sitting in diners, restaurants, parks, stadia, and on trains. Here’s what I’ve discovered: Guys are talking about serious stuff. Consider this conversation I overheard, riding on the MetroNorth Railroad into New York that involved two guys sitting across from each other:
Guy 1: When are the Yanks going to make Joba Chamberlain a starter?
Guy 2: I’m against that move. He’s too valuable in the bullpen, setting up for Mariano Rivera.
Guy 1: What? With the starters they have now, they can’t get to the eighth inning with a lead.
Guy 2: But when they have a lead late in the game, there’s no one else to hold it.
It’s obvious from this conversation that guys are talking life-and-death issues. They made their points – intelligently and succinctly. You can feel the pain of these ardent Yankee fans. This is no frivolous discussion. As the Yanks go, so will go their moods. It’s important that they talk out their emotions. Maybe this is the subject of another study.
For too long, men stand accused of not expression their emotions. I have proof right here that guys feel and like to express it. I also have recorded another intense conversation between two other guys on the attributes of women who walked past them. But we’ll leave that for another column.
To be fair, I listened in to some all-female conversations. I admit they were of similar length, but no about the most pressing issues of the day.
Gal 1: I’m not sure I should enroll Jimmy in a culture camp this summer.
Gal 2: That sounds like such a good idea. He would probably get a lot out of it.
Gal 1: My husband thinks he’ll hate it. He wants to sign Jimmy up for golf lessons.
Gal 2: Golf? He’s only four.
Gal 1: I know. But my husband says Tiger Woods started real young and look at him.
Gal 2: I vote for the culture camp.
Gal 1 should know Jimmy won’t appreciate culture until he’s about 43 and has his own kids, who would rather play video games than read. And both women have failed to consult with Jimmy and the husband has a great point that his kid could turn out to be the next Tiger Woods and make 20 gazillion and take care of his parents in their golden years.
This all goes to show professor Mehl that if the sexes use about the same amount of words. We guys are using them differently, probing our inner feelings and tackling deep issues, such as should Chamberlain step into the Yankee starting rotation. If a woman wrote this column it would have taken her at least 872 words to make her points. My column runs 860. I rest my case.
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