Conversation Styles Between the Sexes .
It was very ironic that the day we talked about Tannen's article was the day after Valentines Day. This is ironic because a guy I was very interested in asked me out on a date to celebrate this national day of love and romance. What I thought was going to be the greatest date turned out to be a perfect demonstration of how self-centered and overly loquacious men can be. When I read this article that night after my prolonged date, I was amazed at how well this article summed up my entire evening with this guy. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines conversation as "an informal talking together." Now here is my question: Do men not understand what the word "together" means? I then took the time to look back at all my conversations with men and thought about what these conversations consisted of and the tiny details that gave one person power over the other. This made me very curious to analyze and observe women and men and the way they verbally communicate. I will discuss my personal experiences with conversing with men and women, the differences in their conversation styles, and how these different styles are portrayed in society.
We know from the start that men and women have different objectives and tendencies when conversing with one another. Men tend to offer opinions, suggestion, and information, which is straight to the point. Women tend to react, offering agreement or disagreement. I couldn't agree more with every word that Tannen wrote about the conversation style between men and woman. The entire night of my date consisted of him telling me about his band, his ex-girlfriend, his house and his friends, to say the least. When I would try to throw a word in he would agree quickly and then move on to something about himself. Likewise, if I brought something up about myself he would turn it around to make it have to do with himself and take over the conversation again.
