5 ms·

12 english words known by men but not by women (and vice versa)

16 points by pavelrub 12y ago

kghose 12y ago
This was fun, but I was surprised by: scimitar, bolshevism, biped, bottlebrush, mascarpone, progesterone and bodice
pigDisgusting 12y ago
Ha ha ha! I did know all of the male words, thanks to AD&D and the History channel. Meanwhile, on the feminine side I was shocked to be confronted by 7 out of 12 words, that I would be hard-pressed to use correctly in a sentence. But seriously, are "flouncy" and "flouncing" substantialy distinct enough to be counted twice? I'm ashamed to ask, but I have to, since I really can't come up with a serious definition for either.
- tthomas48 12y ago
  Interesting I wouldn't have counted them twice, as my instinct is that we're talking about an adjective and an adverb - BUT - flouncing is also a noun that is the material that is used to make a dress flouncy. Sewing definitely has at least as many technical terms as comp-sci.
PhantomGremlin 12y ago
It's hard for me to believe that 88% of a "random" sample of men know what "codec" is. Perhaps this vocabulary test was given mainly to people in Flanders. If so, I'm quite impressed with their general knowledge, especially of English words. I'd bet that no more than 8.8% of "random" males in the USA would know what "codec" is.
- tmerr 12y ago
  The article says it's based on "the first 500K tests completed" of http://vocabulary.ugent.be/wordtest/start http://vocabulary.ugent.be/wordtest/start Then the sample is probably taken from internet dwellers who are interested in seeing how good their vocabulary is. I wonder if that's also why Paladin is so high up on that list.
SippinLean 12y ago
What a horrible title. 71% of men knew "bodice", that's hardly "not known to men".
fallinghawks 12y ago
I knew all of them. Should I be concerned about my gender? ;) The page links to an interesting vocabulary test. I probably scored low because I said "no" to words I recognized but did not know the meaning of. On the basis of your results, we estimate you know 76% of the English words. You said yes to 76% of the existing words. You said yes to 0% of the nonwords. This gives you a corrected score of 76% - 0% = 76%. This is a high level for a native speaker. [!]
- yaeger 12y ago
  I got a 61%. Still high for a native speaker, it says. I am not a native speaker, though. One thing that's weird. It says: You said yes to 0% of the nonwords. That sounds good. Apparently I never claimed to know a word that doesn't exist. But when I click on the "Nonwords you responded YES to" link, there is a word there. "Seconds". Again, I am not a native speaker but I do believe that "Seconds" is indeed a word...
Grue3 12y ago
I'm not a native English speaker, and while I knew all the "men words", most of the "women words" are giving me trouble. However I knew what "taffeta" was thanks to MLP:FiM.
- mcv 12y ago
  I clearly don't watch enough MLP, as I have no idea what taffeta is. I can kinda place most of the other female words. I admit when reading the male words, I wondered how women could not know those words; although they're very computer and fantasy oriented and not everyday words for most people, they're not that obscure, are they? And then I read the female list and I understood my own limits.

16 points by pavelrub 12y ago

This was fun, but I was surprised by: scimitar, bolshevism, biped, bottlebrush, mascarpone, progesterone and bodice

Ha ha ha! I did know all of the male words, thanks to AD&D and the History channel. Meanwhile, on the feminine side I was shocked to be confronted by 7 out of 12 words, that I would be hard-pressed to use correctly in a sentence. But seriously, are "flouncy" and "flouncing" substantialy distinct enough to be counted twice? I'm ashamed to ask, but I have to, since I really can't come up with a serious definition for either.

tthomas48 12y ago
Interesting I wouldn't have counted them twice, as my instinct is that we're talking about an adjective and an adverb - BUT - flouncing is also a noun that is the material that is used to make a dress flouncy. Sewing definitely has at least as many technical terms as comp-sci.

PhantomGremlin 12y ago

It's hard for me to believe that 88% of a "random" sample of men know what "codec" is. Perhaps this vocabulary test was given mainly to people in Flanders. If so, I'm quite impressed with their general knowledge, especially of English words. I'd bet that no more than 8.8% of "random" males in the USA would know what "codec" is.

tmerr 12y ago
The article says it's based on "the first 500K tests completed" of http://vocabulary.ugent.be/wordtest/start http://vocabulary.ugent.be/wordtest/start Then the sample is probably taken from internet dwellers who are interested in seeing how good their vocabulary is. I wonder if that's also why Paladin is so high up on that list.

SippinLean 12y ago

What a horrible title. 71% of men knew "bodice", that's hardly "not known to men".

fallinghawks 12y ago

I knew all of them. Should I be concerned about my gender? ;) The page links to an interesting vocabulary test. I probably scored low because I said "no" to words I recognized but did not know the meaning of. On the basis of your results, we estimate you know 76% of the English words. You said yes to 76% of the existing words. You said yes to 0% of the nonwords. This gives you a corrected score of 76% - 0% = 76%. This is a high level for a native speaker. [!]

yaeger 12y ago
I got a 61%. Still high for a native speaker, it says. I am not a native speaker, though. One thing that's weird. It says: You said yes to 0% of the nonwords. That sounds good. Apparently I never claimed to know a word that doesn't exist. But when I click on the "Nonwords you responded YES to" link, there is a word there. "Seconds". Again, I am not a native speaker but I do believe that "Seconds" is indeed a word...

Grue3 12y ago

I'm not a native English speaker, and while I knew all the "men words", most of the "women words" are giving me trouble. However I knew what "taffeta" was thanks to MLP:FiM.

mcv 12y ago
I clearly don't watch enough MLP, as I have no idea what taffeta is. I can kinda place most of the other female words. I admit when reading the male words, I wondered how women could not know those words; although they're very computer and fantasy oriented and not everyday words for most people, they're not that obscure, are they? And then I read the female list and I understood my own limits.