THE TALKATIVE SEX.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 6 August 1923, Page 4

THE TALKATIVE SEX.

I WOMEN TALK AT WORE; MEN' I ■ -■■■. do not?; \: ■_- v : .: I ■ . ' - ■ ■ . ■ ■ ■ .- ■,-.-■■ ~ ■ \. ■:■■■■ 1 Why is it that a-woman talks more?than a man? asks a'woman writer Im the Daily Express. An American doctor: has ; beeu lecturing on the: subject, and he has given two explanations, the^ first is that a woman, having a smallervocabulary at lier disposal, finds the** words close at hand; but a mai,.having a more scattered and more numerous^ vocabulary, takes more time in «xpress--ing himself, (i have known some whose* vocabulary was so extensive, that one ? had to wait several minutes while they got home a particular word!)> The docL tor's second explanation is that women! can talk over their normal work—cooking, tor example—and, therefore, they keep lnpractice; whereas ii man* whosework demands more concentration of" thought, talks comparatively little.Like^ the proverbial parrot,, those who^ say least,think most. Hence, perhaps^ the unpopularity of cliesi witii women. Ihere have been other explanations of * the relative talkativeness of women Lasti> year an English psychologist assured us that it was inherited from primitive^ ages. The woman was left at hornet with a, small tribe of children; who>. asked perpetual questions, and compelled the mother to talk, But the mam was away hunting, and silence- was ne- '■•• cessary for success. Another,- explanation, given in 1922, was that the spe-- • cial convolution of the brain from -whidfc the speech faculty originates was developed on one side by men • and onb both sides by, women. The reason wasi that a woman's work was,more ambi-- - dexterous than a man's, and' there— - tote her brain is more fully: «xeroised But the first question is: Does' the-" -^ • average ■•• woman, talk more than the* ■ •average man? StreH-, ih order to I»6^ - logical,- we m^.st make certain "of ourfact before^ we seek for an explanation. Thoiisancls of men go to their- ' work in the morning chattering likev " magpies most of the day, and' r©tun» more or less exhausted. TH«> wive*-. send the children to schoor; and spend? the greater par tof the day alone in* boring, golden silence. In the- evening, when the men return, the Trome»;areT dying for a pleisant chat, and' ar©~met-. with an ancient jibe about "theireternal talkativeness. If statistics^ could be taken." I fancy we should" finip.that a man's'sum total of conversatiom is at least eqoa] to a woman's.