The 20-words that will divide your household
It turns out women may well be better Scrabble players than men – as there’s 20 words females are more likely to know than their male counterparts.
A finding was revealed by Professor Marc Brysbaert from Ghent University in Belgium after conducting an online poll of 220,000 people, using a test that included a list of 62,00o words, The Sun reported.
Professor Brysbaert, who is the who is director of the Center for Reading Research, then analysed trends found among the different responses between men and women
Words such as peplum, tulle, chignon, bandeau, and freesia were commonly found to be more familiar to females.
Women participants also knew certain words better than men – such as chenille, kohl, verbena, sateen, chambray, pessary, and voile.
Men, however, were found to have a list more strongly suited to them, which included words like neodymium, yakuza, teraflop, strafe, parsec, and bushido. Blokes were also more likely to know terms such as howitzer, thermistor, azimuth, femtosecond, and milliamp.
Naturally, the findings divided people on Twitter.
“As a man I have to say… are those real words women know? I don’t know a single one. I do know quite a few of the male words, but not all.”
Others noted they were familiar with both lists, with one writing, “As a gay man I straddle both but def lean team chenille.”
I know all the "male" words but I missed one of the "female" words (espadrille). I work in tech, but I used to sew my own clothes.
The "female" words are mostly about fabrics/clothing. The "male" words are mostly tech/warfare.
It's just what you do with your time. 100% social.
— JTE Elms 🌻 (@jteelms) February 9, 2022
One critic wrote: “I know all but one of the female list and all but three of the male list.
“If you know a bit about physics, hair and beauty, weapons, and dressmaking you’re got most of both lists covered.”
Another man wrote: “Words men know but women don’t and vice versa. “As a man, I have to say… are those real words women know? I don’t know a single one. I do know quite a few of the male words, but not all.”
The 20 words are: Peplum, tulle, chignon, bandeau, freesia, chenille, kohl, verbena, doula, ruche, espadrille, damask, jacquard, whipstitch, boucle, taffeta, sateen, chambray, pessary, voile.
You can take the test here.
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