I talk a lot. I admit it. Not only do I talk a lot, I write a lot, I tweet a lot and I chit-chat on the phone a lot. I just communicate a lot. I’ve always heard that women talk more than men, and I assumed it was true. I mean, have you ever heard of a group of guys staying up all night talking like girls do? I didn’t think so. After I saw a tweet today that read, “Women speak about 7,000 words a day. The average man speaks just over 2,000,” I decided it was time to find out once and for all if this is true. I went on a researching frenzy…
I read many studies completed on this topic from 2006 until now. Some say that women talk more than men, some say that men talk more than women, but after spending over an hour reading it all, I’ve made a conclusion of my own. Have you noticed that we are always comparing who does more or less of something, men or women? Men and women are very different, and we often times have the whole “men are from mars, women are from venus” mentality. As human beings, we like to categorize and notice the differences; however, how many times have we heard that “it all depends?” In this example of talking, again, it all depends on the situation.
In some situations men talk more, and in some women talk more. As Deborah Cameron, an Oxford University linguistics professor specializing in language and gender said, “If you aggregate the large number of studies, you will find there is little difference between the amount men and women talk.” I know it’s not the definitive answer you wanted. Perhaps the lesson here is to realize that instead of trying to figure out who talks more or less, we should recognize that we are more similar than we may have thought. And, just for the record, both men and women say about 16,000 words a day, not the numbers in that tweet that’s circulating.
If you want more details, below is a list of links to articles and studies dating back to 2006 for you to check out. I’d be interested to know your opinion on this. Oh, and to all you men out there that have told me over the years that I talk a lot (you know who you are)…. EAT THAT!! *I’m sticking out my tongue at you!* :)
Via: [USA Today] [Scientific American] [Science Daily] [ABC News] [NPR] [Wired] [Daily Mail] [Guardian] [Eurekalert] Image Credits: [AISPIX / Shutterstock] [Yuri Arcurs / Shutterstock]
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