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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
It is often said that men and women use English in different ways. Without peeking at their real life details and ignoring those whose names are a dead giveaway, how easy or difficult do you find it to guess the sex (or gender if you prefer) of other posters?
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've found it pretty easy. Men tend to be more aggressive,
and to state facts and their opinions without much regard for how others will be affected. Women tend to make it more of a priority not to cause upsets.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I tend to agree with Jackie. If you look in the Pow Wow thread you will find the following suggestions by Bridget. Suggestions which might be considered touchy-feely by men.
1. If I say/post something that might be seen as critical, best to use a tone/emoticon/turn of phrase/all three! to demonstrate that this is not an out-and-out attack.
2. If I'm still afraid I may have offended someone, deal with it privately. It is much easier to build bridges and get understanding, even if not agreement, without the pressure of doing it in the public eye.
The Pow Wow thread is a good one to spot male/female differences in communication and personal interaction.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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Well, sorry if any one does find this offensive, but I don't give a tinker's cuss about the gender of other posters. I would agree that it is often fairly obvious, but if it isn't, what does it matter? It is the quality of the discourse, surely, that is the essence, and either gender can provide that as well as the other.
That is not to say that the inter-genderal reactions (war of the sexes??) do not add a certain je ne sais quoi to the proceedings, which I find instructive and or amusing. Either way, they are a valuable ingredient to this particularly delicious cake.
But most of the time, Scarlett, I just don't give a damn.
We are building the new society on the empty lots of the old
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Joined: Sep 2000
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 347 |
Inerestingly enough, I do give a damn, but I'll be damned if I can explain exactly why. Perhaps it's just natural curiosity, but I find a strong need to ascertain the gender of the person I'm communicating with. After all, with conversation - whether direct or by telephone - we can usually tell the gender of the speaker by the sound of his/her voice. With written correspondence, unless we know the person, we use cues such as the name to suggest gender, and I must admit to being uncomfortable with the "Dear Sir/Madam" scenario in the case of doubt. Being a bit slow picking up clues to gender from expressions of opinion, I find that I resort, mostly sub-consciously, to making assumptions about gender from people's noms de plume, sometimes incorrectly to my subsequent surprise. Sometimes I'll check people's details, sometimes not.
Which raises an interesting thought that has been in the back of my mind for some time? How much of the "real" person do we see behind the personae on our board? Could someone get away with a completely different character from his/her own? Could someone we know actually be several of our well-known contributors at the same time, even exchanging barbs or witticisms with him-herself?? I suspect it's a rare, perhaps non-existent, phenomenon, and I hope that by raising it I haven't detracted from the whole experience. It may even add some mystery for some....
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Joined: Jul 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
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Which raises an interesting thought that has been in the back of my mind for some time? How much of the "real" person do we see behind the personae on our board? Could someone get away with a completely different character from his/her own? Could someone we know actually be several of our well-known contributors at the same time, even exchanging barbs or witticisms with him-herself?? I suspect it's a rare, perhaps non-existent, phenomenon, and I hope that by raising it I haven't detracted from the whole experience. It may even add some mystery for some....
Are you implying that Tsuwm and Jackie are the same person? My, that's a scary though.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Are you implying that Tsuwm and Jackie are the same person? My, that's a scary though.
God Almighty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Jazzy...I think you have managed to shock a southern lady 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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shock a southern lady
Damn straight.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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well, imagine *my chagrin.
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