What's The Matter With Men Anyways?

[maplesyrup]

Mum's the word, says the world

Fathers didn't even make it to the top 70 in people's favourite choice of words.

What do you think of this survey?

What is your favourite English word?

[caesar]

irrelevant garbage

[Cartman]

I always thought that it was interesting that the last words said by many dying Vietnam soldiers was "mother" or "mom". I suspect that has to do with early childhood socialization. Politically, I am not sure whether language nec. reflects shared responsibilities or needs for change to social policy (i.e. pat. leave) though I suspect some would disagree.

[Slavik44]

So why do men need to clean up their act?

My favorite word just maybe "crap", does that tell you anything about crap? Does that make crap better then Sh*t? Or how about poop? You gotta love poop eh? or Eh? every body in Canada loves eh, it wasn't on the top 70 was it? maybe Caanda needs to clean up its act, after all Oi isn't that like Austrialian? Maybe Austrialia has soemthing Canada doesn't. Wait they have a conservative government maybe thats the problem with Canada, we don't have a conservative government and if we had a conservative government then eh would be a popular word because it is Canadian and Canada with the cosnervatives would be more succesfull Like Austrialia. And then I am a Canadian and i like the word Crap so maybe if Canada had a more austrialian conservative government we could say eh more, and not be in so much crap. and if Canada wasn;t in so much Crap then the men in Canada woudl be better and we wouldn;t need to clean up teh crap in our act.

[maplesyrup]

This quiz reveals a lot.

It points out a deficiency in the male species.

Maybe when genetic reasearch is more advanced scientists will be able to remove whatever it is in the male anatomy that is so troublesome to the rest of society (women and children).

[Tawasakm]

after all Oi isn't that like Austrialian?

Well there is this chant used as sports events. One person yells out "AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE" and everyone else yells out "OI OI OI" followed by our solo yelling "AUSSIE" to which everyones thunders "OI" then the last step is repeated then step one is repeated.

Apart from that Aussies don't actually wander around saying, "Oi".

Australians seem to be internatinally famous for g'day (which for some reason most americans mispronounce) but even that isn't used that much.

Probably the most common thing (in my experience) is the phrase, "She'll be right mate." The most common word would be, "mate".

Not that its likely anyone here is all that interested but I thought I would elucidate.

[Cartman]

Can you imagine an Inuit trying to explain what snow is to a member of a South American tribe who has never experienced it? The Inuit tries to use words like "cold" yet also "burning", "white", it "falls from the sky" etc etc. Apparently, it is pretty much impossible to do. The Inuit have dozens of words for snow, but some people do not.

This demonstrates to some psychologists, anthropologists, and linguists that the symbols/language used to communicate are indicative of the experiences of any particular culture. As such, if certain words like "mom" are more valued (not just used more frequently), then this is also indicative of personal experience. Thus, why are mothers more (subconsciously perhaps) valued than fathers to the extent that it is even reflected by our language? What does this suggest about human nature and public policy? Do men need more time to better bond with their children (i.e. Sweden) or are they just doing crappy jobs?

[maplesyrup]

Do men need more time to better bond with their children (i.e. Sweden) or are they just doing crappy jobs?

Both!

[Tawasakm]

This quiz reveals a lot.

It points out a deficiency in the male species.

I beg to differ. The quiz reveals very little. What is your favourite word? 'Zing' made it in to the top 70. Does that mean anything?

If the question had been 'what are the most important things in your life?' and Dad didn't make it in then that would be meaningful.

The survey was taken amongst non-english speaking people (or so the article said - I think english as a second language is a better way to describe it) - maybe they all have better words for Dad which means they don't like the english translation.

I just can't see the point in reading too much into this - especially a blanket condemnation of the entire male gender.

[Cartman]

We all know how the US used First Nations languages in WWII because any code could be cracked, but the Navaho language could not. Why? Give this some thought. Why could a code be relatively easily cracked when created in secret, but a "public" language impossible to break? The reason is that the development of language is highly complex and takes thousands of years to be shaped by millions of people. Imagine language and words as an ever growing library of ideas.

Why are languages different? Why do some languages not have words to refer to things? Why are some languages easy to learn while others are incredibly diffiicult? Why can we not learn language if we have not learned it by the age of ten?

As I said above, why do many dying soliders make a reference to their mothers? They do not say "tell my wife that I love her" or some other romantic thing about their wives, they say "mother" and that is significant. It is possibly a subconscious expression of desire for comfort. Why do they not make a reference to their fathers? It does not matter how often a word is used or in what language it is used; this is incidental. It is the idea generated by millions of people over thousands of years but expressed through one word that matters. The words themselves are just symbols of what is important.

BTW, this is not just horoscope kind of stuff. There are many disciplines that carefully examine language. There may be measurement error in this particular study, but it is a credible area of inquiry. After all, language is a significant aspect of what makes us human and aware of that.

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear maplesyrup,

It points out a deficiency in the male species.

Babies don't cling to and suckle 'dad' for their formative years. From our days as 'hunter-gatherers', 'dad went off to hunt, often for days. Only when boys were old enough to be 'independent' could they join 'the world of men'. All the 'dependent years' were spent with 'mom'. Thus, there is no stronger sense of safety, or comfort, that a human can have than what was provided by a loving mother. Times have changed, to be sure, but our existence is founded upon 'mom' being our entire world for the first decade or two.

[August1991]

Well there is this chant used as sports events. One person yells out "AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE" and everyone else yells out "OI OI OI" followed by our solo yelling "AUSSIE" to which everyones thunders "OI" then the last step is repeated then step one is repeated.

Absolutely hilarious. I gotta go to Australia (on my way to see the mountains of New Zealand).

Babies don't cling to and suckle 'dad' for their formative years. From our days as 'hunter-gatherers', 'dad went off to hunt, often for days.

You miss the much more important difference between males and females in our species. A woman can have at most about 20 children during her life. A man can have many, many more.

In economics, what happens when something is rare?

Cartman:

They were dying soldiers, they were young men, boys. The main woman in their short life was their Mom.

Languages vary but it's their similarity that is striking. Subject, verb, object. Gender. Singular and plural. Verbs are conjugated. Nouns are declined. This is true in Arabic and Russian.

After all, language is a significant aspect of what makes us human and aware of that.

We are the first species to use language (symbols) to such an extent.

The BBC list seems to be based on ESL students, primarily in Asia (probably China). "Eternity" is in the top 10.

irrelevant garbage

For once, I agree with caesar.

[Cartman]

Fine, but realize that you are going against much science. This was easy for those in the majority who believed the world to be flat.

[Tawasakm]

Absolutely hilarious. I gotta go to Australia (on my way to see the mountains of New Zealand).

Just make sure you time your visit so you get to see an international sporting matching. I reccomend an international one-day cricket match. Quite alot of crowd excitement (plenty of chants) but a civilised crowd (excepting to some extent Melbourne). Also I think spectating at a cricket match would give you more insight into Aussies then any other sporting match.

Be ready to cry out, "Gillie Gillie Gillie" also (that needs to be fast).

Also to chant "Waaaaarnie" (this is protracted - you should also bow down with arms outstretched as you do it).