He says, She says

Another one...
She says it's cheating.
He says it was a mistake.
(that one is exceedingly stupid)

She says "I didn't appreciate this kind of thing when Dave Barry did it"
He says "Oh good, me too"

Here's a true one:

He says: That ice cream looks good.
She hears: I want an ice cream.

She says: Let's go get some.
He says: Why?

She says: What do you mean, why? You just said you wanted some!
He says: No I didn't.

She says: Yes you did.
He says: No, I said it looked good, not that I wanted some.

She said: Oh, so it was a commentary and not a hint?
And he says: Yeah, what did you think I meant?
And she says: Nevermind.
And he says: Okay

And she thinks: Damn, I don't get men.

She says: I have a long distance boyfriend.
He says: Oh, you mean a penpal.

He says: Dog food.
She says: Old cheese.

mslaura.LOL that was funny! and it was true?
:(

Women, on average, are less definite and literal in their speech.

That's not a criticism, by the way.

Becky, it was very true - one of my first visits to Florida to see him - we were at Epcot. I so so damn frustrated by the whole situation (you know how it is, early in a relationship, when you're still on shaky ground and you have a misunderstanding and you think it's the end of the world - that was pretty much my mental state) that I thought everything was over between us (er, not that that wasn't a slight over-reaction on my part).

Nick, I agree with you - my dear mother (who agrees with the following comment) was a perfect example of women being less definite in their speech, thereby being a less-than-perfect role-model for my sister and myself. I'm still learning (and probably will be for life) how to "unlearn" hinting and such and to be more direct (it helps that my live-in S/O is borderline Asberger's, so he doesn't read body language well, and he takes everything he hears literally - so I have to say "take out the garbage" as opposed to "honey, someone needs to take out the garbage") in my communications. Also, we've actually gotten to the point where we will stop a conversation to assess whether the other has understood what we're trying to convey, by asking the other to say what they're hearing. It sounds all new-ageish, therapy-induced, but we have to do this else we cannot have a real give-and-take conversation. (He's also famous for not knowing that a conversation is not finished and walking out of the room once he has said his piece, regardless of whether or not I am still speaking. Drives me batty! [But he's still a pretty good guy.])

For a good book on this subject, read Deborah Tannen's 'You Just Don't Understand: Women in men in conversastion'. I think there was another book called 'He Said, She Said' as well. I assume Women Are From Venus, Men are from Mars is crap, but maybe people are just AFRAID OF ITS TRUTHS.

Did I just hear the snap of a Martian elastic band?

Do you like Tannen's works, Nick? I must say that I got really pissy about her complaining/pointing out all of the problems .... shit, sorry, I was thinking about Romain's "Communicating Gender," not Tannen's work. But I have read some of her (er, Tannen's, that is) work in other anthologies - I particularly liked "The Gender Reader" for being a good overview of some of the gender communication issues over a period of decades.

Anyway, I guess it was Romain that I felt kept bitching about all of the problems, pointing out scholarly research on the topic and so forth, but she didn't offer any solutions. I won't disagree that there are some difference between male and female communication trends (though those seem to be learned) and that the English language is fairly patriarchial, but I want to know if those are really problems and how they might be addressed and eliminated, if they need to be corrected.

I read that book when I was about 19 so I don't know if I'd like it now or not. At the time I was mildly obsessed with such things, and I just wanted to have the problems spelled out.

He says it's a very important key part to the car...
She says it's a piece of tetanus shot causing, filthy , rusty piece of metal laying in the right side of the backyard.
Go figure.

Sort of on this line.......

He says:"Do you want anything from the shop/off-licence/takeaway?"
She says:"No,I'm fine/watching my figure/not in the mood for a drink,thanks."
He goes to shop/off-licence/takeaway and gets himself something.
Returns to home,unloads snacks/booze/meal and prepares for a feast.
She says:"Oooh,that looks nice,let me try a bit!" and proceeds to snaffle said feast.
He says:"I just asked you if you wanted any and you said no!Gerrof my swag!"
She says(bluntly):"What,so you won't share with me,then?"
He says:"It's not that,it's just bloody annoying when you do this.You do it to me every time I go to the shop/off licence/takeaway!"
She gets the hump and refuses any jiggy-action for the next few days.