What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?

A study cited in the Science journal found that women and men talk about the same amount – roughly 16,000 words per day (women came in at 16,215 while men were recorded at 15,669.) Researchers tapped 396 American and Mexican college students and calculated the findings over a period of 2 to 10 days in 1998, 2001, 2003, and 2004. According to the researchers, no one had ever systematically recorded the total daily output, in natural conversations, of a sizable number of people. It seems they wanted to squash the stereotype that women are more talkative than men. But did this study hit all of the appropriate demographics? Is it a true sampling of men and women in our society today?

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