August 19, 2016

"Hillary Clinton talks more like a man than she used to."

Headline at the Washington Post (illustrated by a photo of Hillary doing that gaping maw laugh, which men don't do). From the article:
Women rarely act “like women” to achieve power and influence in politics. Women aspiring toward political leadership are more often expected to adopt masculine styles of behavior in order to get their points across...

My analysis of Clinton’s rhetoric draws on research conducted by psychologist James Pennebaker of the University of Texas at Austin. Pennebaker and his colleagues have discovered that men and women tend to speak differently — not necessarily in the content or topics of their conversations, but in the use of seemingly unremarkable “function words,” such as pronouns and prepositions...

In general, women tend to use pronouns (you, theirs), and especially first-person singular pronouns (I, me), more frequently than men. They also use common verbs and auxiliary verbs (is, has, be, go), social (friend, talk), emotional (relieved, safe, kind), cognitive (think, because), and tentative (guess, maybe) words at higher rates than men.

Men, on the other hand, tend to use first-person plural words (the royal “we”), articles (a, an, the), prepositions (of, to, under), big words (over six letters), words associated with anger (destroy, kill), and swear words ([redacted]) more frequently than women....
Well, fuck.

59 comments:

F said...

I don't believe you really mean "well fuck." I know, it's your blog and you can say what you want, BUT. . .

"Well fuckit" would have been more appropriate, in my estimation.

John henry said...

Dinner with the Obots.

In the morning!

John Henry

Marc in Eugene said...

Contempt? disbelief? exhaustion? awe?-- so many possibilities in that one little word.

David Begley said...

So is Hillary intersex?

America demands an independent and comprehensive medical exam. We need this info more than her tax returns.

Anonymous said...

So he is saying Obama is a woman?

mikee said...

Hillary needs no analysis, she is and always has been a corrupt lying power-hungry horrible person, who soon will be our next president. God help us all.

Big Mike said...

In general, women tend to use pronouns (you, theirs), and especially first-person singular pronouns (I, me), more frequently than men.

@jdniner, I would say rather that Obama spends more time in touch with his feminine side.

iqvoice said...

The gaping maw shot for Hillary is apropos. She is hungry. For power, for influence, for lucre, and (not least) for Huma's hot steaming coffee.

Paddy O said...

transverbal

Chuck said...

Four years of ruminations about Hillary Clinton and femininity?

I won't survive it.

Give me the Trump idiocracy, eleven times out of ten.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Men, on the other hand, tend to use first-person plural words (the royal “we”)

The royal we is when someone uses we to refer to just themselves. Have you ever heard a male politician do that? Aren't they always referring not to themselves, but to either their entire administration, or the entire country?

Or was Obama's Yes We Can really Yes I Can?

Laslo Spatula said...

Athouse didn't mention the name (or sex) of the author.

Jennifer Jones.

Maybe a Dude.

I am Laslo.

narciso said...

there's a stronger cognate, in another language, what a bunch of (redacted), good gravy how unaccountable will they allow her to be,

rhhardin said...

Emphasis on function words is bureaucratic talk. There's no content but English requires regular emphasis, so the emphasis goes on function words.

We will have to look at the reasons FOR that.

rhhardin said...

The difference between men and women isn't word counts but abstraction vs complexifying.

buwaya said...

We understand the indisputable necessity of the destruction of the Democrat party, g[redacted] d[redacted] it.

buwaya said...

Need more practice at masculine forms in your illogical language.

Original Mike said...

What's with the ads?

JCC said...

heh heh

Anonymous said...

Expletive deleted.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

In general, women tend to use pronouns (you, theirs), and especially first-person singular pronouns (I, me), more frequently than men.

Oh, snap, the WashPo subtly calling President Obama a sissy--a girly-man! Sick burn, brah!

Marc in Eugene said...

(Are the eHarmony, 'How Men Over 40 Get Abs', &c &c advertisements from my side, or from AA/Blogger's, I wonder; haven't noticed the ads with photographs &c before today.)

traditionalguy said...

Has any expert thought of the oldest answer to why a leader's personality gradually becomes mean and erratic.

It's the drugs, stupid. Introverted secret keeper types need a chemical boost to deal with meeting the social array of demanding people always trying to figure them out with curious questions. Arrrg!

Secretary Rodham-Clinton has long had all the Rx she needs carried around close at hand like a President's Nuclear Football. But after her highs for brief performances, she has to go hide and crash.

Trump is not the first person to notice that about old, confused Hillary.

TWW said...

It's not "Fuck". It's "Fuckin-A". You have to get the mannerisms right too.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Of course Hillary's speaking voice bothers me. It bothers everyone, especially her wincing supporters.
But what bothers me more is her record of deceit and failure. The reason her supporters have a hard time making a case for her to be president is that she is obviously not suited for the job. The next time some idiot tells me that it's time for a woman to get the president's job, I am going to tell him it considered impolite to point at a woman's pussy.

BN said...

We need more academics and more studies like this. i know i'm willing to pay $500 a year in taxes for someone else's kids to go to college and study up on this.

Who's with me? Anyone? Anyone?

Well, fuck.

You are anyway.

Aw, fuck!

n.n said...

Hillary wants to be the Man. The female chauvinist revolution left a trail of broken relationships, confused women, and aborted babies.

rcommal said...

Well, Althouse, fuck, indeed.

Happy now?

Achilles said...

Did this woman get paid to write this article? How much more sexist can the author of the article be? We send these people to school so they can label people masculine and feminine speakers and they don't even use the information for marketing.

Depressing.

rcommal said...

Did this woman get paid to write this article? How much more sexist can the author of the article be? We send these people to school so they can label people masculine and feminine speakers and they don't even use the information for marketing.

Oh, please, you heel you.

Like as if people in general don't get paid to write articles. Like as if all sorts of things don't get paid for, written by women and men alike, by sexist women and sexist men. Like as if it's even necessary to *pay* people, women and men alike, to spout crap. Like as if social media--including every bit of that, including blogging, blog-commenting, tweeting, Facebooking, Instagram-ing, Snap-Chatting, Pinterest-ing, & etc. etc. etc., and so on and so forth...--in some sort of alternative universe doesn't allow everyday people, all of the time, every day, to spout all sorts of bullshit among the facts presented, not just freely, but also for free.

I mean: Sweet jumpin' brains being brined in glass jars on a shelf somewhere, in case they're needed someday, I guess, ironically and comically. Abby Normal, and all of that

--

Talk about our Achilles' heel, not to mention our freest society, however unappreciated. (I'm bone-deep U.S Not sorry.)

--

Shorter:

What on earth are you talking about, Achilles? I'd ask you why, but I think I already know: knee-jerking.

rcommal said...

Also, just for the record, it's my opinion that the single most both under-reported and unreported news story of the last part of the 20th century and all of the 21st Century thus far is that there is no such thing as the American Experiment anymore. That's done. It's over. Gone.

The saddest thing I've ever observed in my lifetime--and I kid you not about this; in fact, I am as serious as I can be--has to do with those who failed to revive the corpse mostly because it was more important to them to put a fork in it ("it" being, y'know, the experiment formerly known as the United States [of America]). So much for local, they said--and then proceeded to eff the very notion of that in every which way they could. Make no mistake: That's what it amounted to, indeed, at the end of the day. It's what got done: 1.) no more of that local crud, and 2.) better that we should take control of it all, nationally.

---

No matter which form of inexorably creeping National government "wins" this fall, I will not be happy with or about it.

rcommal said...

Sweet sheesh: At least the EU, more than quite a bit more than 500 million-population strong, is, as always it has been, made up of actual different countries (with all that indicates); I suppose that could be used as an excuse. Too unruly! & Etc.! Blah, blah, blah.

What is the excuse here, in the United States?

Why, on earth, are the--apparently--most passionate and determined among us, from the most leftist to the most rightist, and above all the most populist of whatever flavor (homegrown American sort, specifically) wishing more for a Brussels-sort of central control over states, localities, and individuals? (This is not a call for anyone to school me about the plight of workers, whites, men, rust-belts, women, blacks, farmers, impoverished & etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.: I'm asking for someone to tell me what I DON'T KNOW ALREADY.) How can, how do, they justify their attraction to that model, much less advocacy for that sort of form of national government here?

These are serious questions that I am asking, and I am seriously asking them.

rcommal said...

What a lost opportunity, roughly 2010-2014+. Those sorts of windows in time don't open much, much less often open at all. It's a shame, a crying shame, that the opportunity therein got squandered. *shrug* *oh well* *so it goes* *whatever*

virgil xenophon said...

@rcommal/

Why? Because we all must be marched to virtue at bayonet point if need be..

Etienne said...

Original Mike said...What's with the ads?

We're getting splooshed...

Coupons bitch! We need coupons!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I'm reminded of Austin Powers proving that that's a man, baby, and for that I'm glad.

Meade said...

Walk like a man, talk like a man

Soon you'll be cryin' on account of all your lyin'

Ann Althouse said...

"(Are the eHarmony, 'How Men Over 40 Get Abs', &c &c advertisements from my side, or from AA/Blogger's, I wonder; haven't noticed the ads with photographs &c before today.)"

Google serves ads to each reader that it thinks you're going to like. I keep seeing ads for products I have recently shopped for.

I just changed a setting to display ads between the posts as well as in the sidebar. That's the recommended format -- per Google. I've avoided that format in the past, thinking it is too conspicuous, but Meade had a different point of view about how it looks. He said it makes the blog seem more professional and successful!

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

That would explain all those ads I get for products to control Extreme Flatulence Syndrome (EFS).

"Ask your doctor if Calmzafart is right for you!"

Curious George said...

"I just changed a setting to display ads between the posts as well as in the sidebar. That's the recommended format -- per Google. I've avoided that format in the past, thinking it is too conspicuous, but Meade had a different point of view about how it looks. He said it makes the blog seem more professional and successful!"

I use Adblock. No ads. Anywhere. I currently am blocking 29 ads on your blog.

Curious George said...

I paused Adblock. Meade's wrong. It looks whorish.

MadisonMan said...

I keep seeing ads for products I have recently shopped for.

Sort of closing the barn door after the horse is out-ish, in my opinion. I've bought a sweater. Therefore I'm not in the market for a sweater. But google thinks otherwise.

Of course, I don't shop -- I buy. By the time I'm looking for what I want, I know what it is. And more and more I just go incognito.

Meade said...

"I paused Adblock. Meade's wrong. It looks whorish."

Okay, but whorish in a successful professional way, right?

Ann Althouse said...

Why are you whore-shaming?

Meade said...

Indeed. Let he who is without shame throw the first Adblock.

Original Mike said...

Meade can't be serious. It looks awful.

I guess I'll have to blow my Saturday afternoon figuring out new software. My favorite activity. Thanks, Meade.

Ann Althouse said...

"Sort of closing the barn door after the horse is out-ish, in my opinion. I've bought a sweater. Therefore I'm not in the market for a sweater. But google thinks otherwise."

I meant things I shopped for but did not buy. Something I might want but the deal is not yet closed. Reminding me that I was interested in something is pretty impressive targeted marketing.

In my view everyone wins: 1. Google skims from the deal, thus profiting from impressive tools it has developed, 2. The advertiser reaches a targeted audience, 3. The writer of the blog has an income stream from the work, 4. The reader of the blog has free reading material and sees ads that are for things he might really be interested in.

What is the basis for complaining? All I can think is that you don't like knowing that Google gathers information about you, but that's already true. Or you don't like the clutter of seeing ads between the post and would prefer more simplicity. Points noted.

Original Mike said...

"Or you don't like the clutter of seeing ads between the post and would prefer more simplicity."

This. I don't even "see" the ads on the sidebar. These are in your face.

I read a few articles on ad blocking software when it was enabled in iOS. There are a bunch of apps each with a bunch of settings. Since I detest wasting my precious life figuring out software I dropped it. But now I guess I'll return to the task.

Anybody got suggestions on which one is best? Perhaps Althouse could do a post on the topic.

Original Mike said...

"All I can think is that you don't like knowing that Google gathers information about you, but that's already true."

I deal with this by NEVER (and I do mean NEVER) clicking on ads.

Roughcoat said...

buwaya:

Did you grow up speaking Visayan or Tagalog? I'm guessing Visayan.

buwaya said...

Hi Roughcoat,

My native tongue is a patois of Spanish and Tagalog (Manileno, some would have called it, though my abuelita was Spanish-purist language police), with a sprinkle of Bicol and Waray. Dad was born in Tabaco, Albay, and the servants were and still are a clan from Leyte.

Roughcoat said...

buwaya -

Interesting. For some reason I thought you and your people were from the Visayas. OT question: do you think travel to Luzon in general is reasonably safe? I've a hankering to tour Bataan/Corregidor and related locales. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Anonymous said...

"Hillary Clinton talks more like a man..."

If she walked more like a man I'd blame Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Ann Althouse said...
Why are you whore-shaming?
8/20/16, 8:04 AM


That's interesting. So if someone called you a whore, you would not resent it? That reminds me of ARM or R&B or whoever it was, who would fag-bait people and then call them on it as homophobes if they resented it (i.e., NTTAWWT).

Does one murder-bait murderers or traitor-bait traitors? (or would it be treason-bait traitors?)

Funny, on some recent thread you appeared to fat-shame, or fat-bait, fatties (to the effect of 'soon you won't even be able to shame fat people anymore').

Hmm, what is the difference between shaming and baiting?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Just before that picture was taken someone socked it to Nixon.

Marc in Eugene said...

Oh, I can get used to the advertisements between posts-- simply wondered whose Google use triggers the ads' content. In the side bar, the ad I'm seeing this morning is definitely prompted by me (a search for dictionary stands). Yesterday's interpost ad 'How to acquire abs when one is over forty'?-- the thought of me searching for some version of that would elicit guffaws from anyone who actually knows me, and the eHarmony one was peculiarly laughable in my case. Today, annuities and Sling are on offer, so presumably the machines are learning.

rcocean said...

Some how I misread this as "Hillary isn't the man she used to be"

Maybe, because it made more sense.

Bad Lieutenant said...

The extra ads are atrocious. It makes you like those clickbait sites like zergnet.com. The inline ad placement makes it potentially seem as if the ads are something that you are posting, in other words they're getting confused with your content. Do you want that?

buwaya said...

Hi Roughcoat,
I have a hankering to do the same, since its been too long away for me, and I need to check out some places for a book I'm working on. Luzon is perfectly safe as long as you stick to safe places - the equivalent advice to avoid certain parts of Chicago. Bataan/Corregidor are definitely on the tourist track and quite safe.
Rural Luzon is quite safe nearly anywhere, as long as you mind the often crazy drivers.
Places I need to see - the beach and coastal plain of La Union, along Lingayen gulf, and other points of intetest.