5 ms·

I think this is a misnomer, in my experience boys just telegraph their academic ability more than girls do.

Dewie 12y ago
A greater variance among men is a widely-noted phenomena. But by all means, keep selling the narcissism[1]-line if it's more soothing to you. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9153685 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9153685
- GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
  Lots of widely-noted phenomena do not stand up to actual evidence. (http://www.minnpost.com/sites/default/files/attachments/rtx120100010p-2.pdf http://www.minnpost.com/sites/default/files/attachments/rtx1...)
  - sanxiyn 12y ago
    Thank you for a great reference. It seems to me that Figure 1B (girls' versus boys' variance scatter plot) clearly shows greater variance for boys.
- dang 12y ago
  > But by all means, keep selling the narcissism[1]-line if it's more soothing to you. No personal jabs, please. This comment would be much better without the second sentence.
  - Dewie 12y ago
    It's a personal subject to me. I take it personally when men/boys keep being painted as being self-absorbed, lazy and incompetent (or one of them). Maybe I shouldn't.
    - dang 12y ago
      We all have our sore spots, and one can't always stop feeling something simply by deciding one shouldn't. So that expectation might be too high. One can, though, be aware of them and stop oneself from responding reflexively when they come up. (Or, more easily, edit the defensiveness out of one's comments after writing them.) The quantity and range of posts to HN—plus the fact that there's one big community and not a bunch of little siloed ones—guarantee that whatever buttons you have will eventually get pushed here, just like any exposed spot will eventually get wet in a rainstorm. This isn't personal; it's a statistical process. But we're not hard-wired to experience statistical processes, so unless one is careful, it feels like one is dealing with a person—usually an annoying adversary with demonic powers to drive one crazy. I think this is why people often post comments personifying "HN". We each have a different imaginary arch-enemy in our heads. I mention this in the hope that it might be helpful to anyone else who recognizes the pattern. In our case, exposure to it is an occupational hazard, so we've had little choice but to learn about it.
mbrameld 12y ago
Is misnomer the right word in that context?
- vampirechicken 12y ago
  Are you saying that misnomer might be a misnomer?

Dewie 12y ago

A greater variance among men is a widely-noted phenomena. But by all means, keep selling the narcissism[1]-line if it's more soothing to you. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9153685 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9153685

GFK_of_xmaspast 12y ago
Lots of widely-noted phenomena do not stand up to actual evidence. (http://www.minnpost.com/sites/default/files/attachments/rtx120100010p-2.pdf http://www.minnpost.com/sites/default/files/attachments/rtx1...)
- sanxiyn 12y ago
  Thank you for a great reference. It seems to me that Figure 1B (girls' versus boys' variance scatter plot) clearly shows greater variance for boys.
dang 12y ago
> But by all means, keep selling the narcissism[1]-line if it's more soothing to you. No personal jabs, please. This comment would be much better without the second sentence.
- Dewie 12y ago
  It's a personal subject to me. I take it personally when men/boys keep being painted as being self-absorbed, lazy and incompetent (or one of them). Maybe I shouldn't.
  - dang 12y ago
    We all have our sore spots, and one can't always stop feeling something simply by deciding one shouldn't. So that expectation might be too high. One can, though, be aware of them and stop oneself from responding reflexively when they come up. (Or, more easily, edit the defensiveness out of one's comments after writing them.) The quantity and range of posts to HN—plus the fact that there's one big community and not a bunch of little siloed ones—guarantee that whatever buttons you have will eventually get pushed here, just like any exposed spot will eventually get wet in a rainstorm. This isn't personal; it's a statistical process. But we're not hard-wired to experience statistical processes, so unless one is careful, it feels like one is dealing with a person—usually an annoying adversary with demonic powers to drive one crazy. I think this is why people often post comments personifying "HN". We each have a different imaginary arch-enemy in our heads. I mention this in the hope that it might be helpful to anyone else who recognizes the pattern. In our case, exposure to it is an occupational hazard, so we've had little choice but to learn about it.

mbrameld 12y ago

Is misnomer the right word in that context?

vampirechicken 12y ago
Are you saying that misnomer might be a misnomer?