Best say nothing, boys

New research from the United States says men talk just as much as women, contrary to the traditional belief that women are much better gas-baggers. Where does that leave gays?

The research, written up in the latest issue of Science magazine, is from the University of Arizona. Researchers asked 396 young people, in America and Mexico, to wear tiny microphones over 2-10 days – the counted how many words they used.

The finding is that women used 16,215 words a day on average, while men get through 15,669, a difference of just 546 words. The person who uttered the least amount of words said just 500; the most talkative used a mind-boggling 45,000 words. Please God, don’t sit her next to me in a bus.

As some observers have said, the sample is hardly representative: young people of both sexes talk too much, and haven’t yet split into clearly defined gender roles, where fathers end up watching sport on television at night, while mothers ‘communicate’ and do other fussy things with their young.

It contrasts with another study last year, which found women get through 20,000 words a day, compared to just 7,000 for men.

The New York Times has a great write-up [link harvested - it died]. The author is male, and writes in a terse, staccato style which deliberately leaves out many words, to reinforce the idea that as males, we really don’t say much, contrary to what this study suggests. He also has a novel explanation for why women really do end up talking much more than men:

Finally, joke (typical male conversation dodge) to prove the myth remains persuasive.

Man: Study here says women talk twice as much as men.

Wife: Of course we do. We have to repeat everything we say.

Man: What?