Monday, May 20, 2024

Writing - Vive la difference

 There is no doubt about it men and women are different. When John Gray wrote the book Men are from Mars Women from Venus he certainly got the right idea. It's true biologically the male and female of the species are very different but not just in appearance or biological function, but also in rates of development physically, emotionally and intellectually. In these facts is where the powers that be get it wrong. The bottom line is that men and women are not the same, they don't ever become the same and as such they deserve the right to be treated differently and with respect. 




In a very erudite piece of writing by the author Bill Bryson he encapsulates one of the differences between the two sexes. It is also an amusing interlude that enriches his writing and could be a strategy used in all writing. 
I include the passage for your entertainment. 

Although the store had only just opened, the food hall was busy and there were long queues at the tills. I took a place in a line behind eight other shoppers. They were all women and they all did the same mystifying thing: they acted surprised when it came time to pay. This is something that has been puzzling me for years. Women will stand there watching their items being rung up, and then when the till lady says,

'That's £4.20, love,'

or whatever, they suddenly look as if they've never done this sort of thing before. They go 'Oh!' and start rooting in a flustered fashion in their handbag for their purse or chequebook, as if no-one had told them that this might happen.

 

Men, for all their many shortcomings, like washing

large pieces of oily machinery in the kitchen sink or

forgetting that a painted door stays wet for more than thirty seconds, are generally pretty good when it comes to paying. They spend their time in line doing a wallet inventory and sorting through their coins. When the till person announces the bill, they immediately hand over an approximately correct amount of money, keep their hand extended for the change however long it takes or foolish they may begin to look if there is, say, a problem with the till roll, and then — mark this - pocket their change as they walk away instead of deciding that now is the time to search for the car keys and reorganize six months' worth of receipts.


God Bless 


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