Cliche Romance Passage

 It was nearly early morning and the bar had quietened quite considerably in the last half an hour or so, with the odd regular or drifter still occupying a stool at the bar. As she finished wiping down the beer soaked wooden surface of the bar with a soft cloth she propped herself up on elbows and began involuntarily drifting out of consciousness, fighting to stay awake. She reminded herself that this was forgivable, seeing as how her boss had asked her to work full shifts the past four nights.

She finally let herself succumb to her fatigue knowing that the regulars were unlikely to wake her up, with most of them being near unconscious themselves. No sooner than she fell asleep was she abruptly woken by the snapping of fingers close to her face. The sudden awakening caught her by surprise so she jolted, causing her elbow to slip out from under her and the bridge of her nose to clash with one  of the  many beer taps lining the bar. Rubbing the her now sore nose, she looked up at the source of the snapping; a tall figure probably about 6”, dark, short hair with broad shoulders hunched over the bar with a face that conveyed annoyance/impatience and tapping a folded banknote on the bar. She may have even found him attractive had the ass not just rudely woke her up, even if it was to do her job. A husky voice followed soon after which caught her off-guard:

“So can I get a drink?” he said, a small smile threatening to form on the corner of his mouth as he continued tapping the banknote on the counter. She stood there for a second, flustered and for some reason confused as to what to do.

Language & Gender Theory

Dominance Theory

This theory is that in conversation involving both genders that the male participants are more likely to interrupt than female speakers. A study done by Don Zimmerman and Candace West of the University of California in 1975 on determined that in 31 pieces of conversation male participants made 46 interruptions to the female participants 2. The study concluded that as men interrupt more often that they are/trying to dominate the conversation.

Gender, Social Class and Speech Sounds

Peter Trudgill researched the language differences between men and women based on social class in the 1970’s.  His study observed how each gender pronounced suffixes and which gender shortened suffixes (dropping the ‘g’ off of words ending ‘-ing’). The study found that women were more likely to use the prestige pronunciations of words, aiming for a higher social class than they had been entered as. In contrast, men were more likely to use low prestige pronunciations and seek covert prestige by seeming more ‘down to earth’.

Deborah Tannen and difference

Deborah Tannen summarised the language differences between male and female by 6 contrasts:

• Status v Support
• Independence v Intimacy
• Advice v Understanding
• Information v Feelings
• Orders v Proposals
• Conflict v Compromise

Status v Support

This contrast indicates that men seek to achieve dominance or prevention of dominance in conversation whereas women seek confirmation/support for their ideas. Men see the world as a place to gain and keep status whereas women see the world as a network of connections seeking support.

Independence v Intimacy

Because men seek to gain and keep status, they tend to focus on independence whereas women tend to focus intimacy.

Advice v Understanding

Men tend to seek a solution to a problem whereas women seek understanding and support in dealing with the problem.

Information v Feelings

Men tend to be blunt and to the point whereas women tend draw out conversation/discuss more marginal things.

Orders v Proposals

Women often suggest things in an indirect way whereas men are more likely partial to use direct imperatives.