Tech. How users read on the web. Applescript too Englishlike [:(]
Economics. The dollar slide. Lateness. [:(]
Articles. Max Hastings on Cameron [(UK)] China Mieville on libertarian utopias. Gender differences in communication are negligible. [:(]
In almost every case, the overall difference made by gender is either small or close to zero. Two items, spelling accuracy and frequency of smiling, show a larger effect - but it is still only moderate.
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If it does not reflect reality, why is the folk-belief that women talk more than men so persistent? The feminist Dale Spender once suggested an explanation: she said that people overestimate how much women talk because they think that, ideally, women would not talk at all. While that may be rather sweeping, it is true that belief in female loquacity is generally combined with disapproval of it. The statement "women talk more than men" tends to imply the judgment "women talk too much". (As one old proverb charmingly puts it: "Many women, many words; many geese, many turds.")
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The folk-belief that women talk more than men persists because it provides a justification for an ingrained social prejudice.
