Language Log

Dueling stereotypes

People seem remarkably comfortable with inconsistent stereotypes. Not long ago, we commented on a Zits cartoon whose point was that when teen girls hang out, they all talk at once all the time, whereas teen boys hang out together in near-silent isolation. In contrast, the strip for 11/16/2006 is based on the idea that teen boys talk enthusiastically among themselves, but have nothing to say to their parents:

If you think of all this as a collection of hypotheses about how teen boys (or girls) behave, it's pretty incoherent. If you think of it as a collection of hypotheses about how (certain) adults react to teen behavior, though, you can find a pattern: whatever the kids do, it's inappropriate.

Of course, no one wants to read about people (of any age) acting and reacting appropriately. And an easy way to get an audience is to appeal to the greatest peeves of the greatest number.

[Update -- Language Hat writes:

I read that strip too, but didn't at all have your reaction -- to me the point was not that "teen boys talk enthusiastically among themselves, but have nothing to say to their parents," but rather that teen boys refuse to share their exciting adventures with their parents. In other words, it was not about language use but secret-keeping: what happens in dudeland stays in dudeland.

In fact, I interpreted the intended message of the cartoon in exactly the same way that Hat did. But for the purposes of this post, I was focusing not the behavior's attributed motivation, but on the depicted behavior itself. What's shown here is a 15-year-old boy who's chatty with a male friend, in contrast to the group of silent boys in the earlier cartoon.]

Posted by Mark Liberman at November 18, 2006 06:13 AM