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Originally posted by FredPuli:
Does anybody think that having a sister or sisters helps a boy to grow up with a better understanding of the way women feel and deal with others ?

It surely demystifies the opposite sex. And vice versa; I grew up with three sisters, but no brothers, and couldn't wait to get out there and find out what boys were all about. Turned out they weren't that complicated.

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Does anybody think that having a sister or sisters helps a boy to grow up with a better understanding of the way women feel and deal with others ?

I think it all depends on the dynamic of each family. Sibling rivalry plays right into the competitive spirit which boys are taught to exercise. Girls tend to seek compromise. Boys are taught to be victors, to achieve Alpha male status. As I commented to someone a bit ago, a typical example is:

Two girls playing- "I'll play with dolly for 15 minutes and you play with dolly for 15 minutes."

Boy- "Gimme that doll."

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Girls tend to seek compromise. Boys are taught to be victors, to achieve Alpha male status. As I commented to someone a bit ago, a typical example is:

Two girls playing- "I'll play with dolly for 15 minutes and you play with dolly for 15 minutes."

Boy- "Gimme that doll."

Thinking about this, it's way too simplistic. Perhaps you didn't have more than one female sibling. Let me tell you, girls can fight every bit as rough as boys. You need to talk to my poor father who had to break up numerous fights between my three sisters and myself.

May be simplistic. And family dynamics vary. But in general, I'll stick to my characterization of the situation.

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Thinking about this, it's way too simplistic. Perhaps you didn't have more than one female sibling. Let me tell you, girls can fight every bit as rough as boys. You need to talk to my poor father who had to break up numerous fights between my three sisters and myself.

..and THAT is how dg became so adept at/knowledgeable about boxing!

No Marquess of Queensberry rules in our house, Bob. It was more like a cat fight.

Things I wish I'd seen (No 94): The smackdown at the dg sisters'.

I don't take this 'young boys are fighters and girls are negotiators' idea It's cultural and nurture based, not genetic. We have tended to encourage boys to fight, to be 'little men', to resolve their differences 'like men', not to be 'cry babies', to be 'alpha males'. When we don't encourage it, we more readily accept it as 'natural'.Girls aren't afforded this latitude. In the wild they fight like cats (don't they, dg ?)

In Britain, home of the 'stiff upper lip' ( in my case, situated directly above the weak, flabby one) this went further. Any boy who showed any emotion whatever was thought odd. When I was about 6 and was injured and concussed in a playground accident, the woman teacher who was tending my wounds sat me up on a table, like an exhibit, to show the class, saying " Look at Fred,everyone, he's not crying!" This was my proudest moment at the time. It's only years on that it seems extraordinary that a) I knew, whatever the pain, that I was not to show it and b)that this was an example to others [ c) I might have been in shock and not feeling anything ] This extended to winning at games. If our team won, the first thing we did was applaud the losers.(This persists in cricket, where the opposing batsman is applauded by the side whose bowling [pitching] he's been hitting out of the ground for the last four hours ) The scorer of the winning goal was expected to shake hands with his team mates, not dance around in delight,no display of emotion allowed. Girls, on the other hand, could scream, shout or cry but they were girls, and that was understood (the noisiest sporting place in Britain was always a girls' hockey match !)

That's two instances of culture and nurture in practice. Nowadays, we have scenes of English soccer players in tears when they've lost. These boys, become men, are still English but our culture has changed.If we have a cultural change over young boys being 'alpha males' or fighting, then the boys will act differently. Of course, when they reach puberty we have a difference, one which is chemical, not cultural.

A couple years ago, I read an article that in the London schools, what we would consider K-6, all competitive sports had been eliminated so that no one's self esteem would be hurt by being considered a loser. Don't know how accurate that was.

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Originally posted by juanruiz:
A couple years ago, I read an article that in the London schools, what we would consider K-6, all competitive sports had been eliminated so that no one's self esteem would be hurt by being considered a loser. Don't know how accurate that was.

I don't think this was general I expect some mad school in some Labour borough like Camden proposed it. Mind, it could have been an excuse for the local authorities selling off all the school playing fields to developers.In Camden there is only one playing field for soccer . It's Arsenal Football Club's soccer stadium

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It's Arsenal Football Club's soccer stadium

Go Arsenal! Guess it's too late to say that, seeing MU took the cup. Anyway, my son is a big fan.

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Originally posted by juanruiz:

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It's Arsenal Football Club's soccer stadium

my son is a big fan.

So he's a 'Gooner', one of the 'Gooners' Sport is full of little mysteries and 'Gooners', for fans of the Arsenal, is one. It's said to be from 'Gunners', the club's nickname, but nobody from London would pronounce 'gunner' as 'gooner'

Over here the fans would shout "Come on,the Gunners !" (if aged over 50) or "Come on you Gunners" (If younger. This version is better for chanting, the 'you' being given as 'YOO-oo ' ) Older fans, and purists, still call the team 'The Arsenal' not 'Arsenal'.

Why am I saying all this? I'm a Chelsea season ticket holder ! I could be worse. I could be a Spurs supporter (just ask your son )

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nobody from London would pronounce 'gunner' as 'gooner'

But they would in Canada.

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Originally posted by juanruiz:

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nobody from London would pronounce 'gunner' as 'gooner'

But they would in Canada.

I never thought of that ! And the team is largely French, too. Is there some ancient link???

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Is there some ancient link???

Peut-être. Quand il s'agit des français et des canadiens, on ne sait jamais.

You think we English Canadians can't read French don't you, eh?
Well, let me tell you, we manage very nicely (with food labels and government websites at least). Besides, we can always call on Mozart or Frank for help with the subtleties of the language. So watch what you write, you two !

So what you're saying is you can understand arrête, rue, chemin, and défense de fumer, eh?

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Originally posted by juanruiz:
So what you're saying is you can understand arrête, rue, chemin, and défense de fumer, eh?

No, I don't understand the last one.
We have graphic warnings on cigarette packets in Canada. My approach to this, is to only buy cigarettes that have particular warnings on them:

Like this Nobody likes a droopy cigarette, do they?

Ah yes, impuissant, much like Shakespeare's poem referring to the cuckoo's song, "Oh word of fear,/unpleasing to the married ear." Well, I'd be hardpressed to admit that a stiff drag on a cigarette would make me limp, or even lame.

Yes jr. A drag on a fag might make anyone feel a bit queer.

dg a 'DEFENSE DE FUMER' is a French smoke screen. You'll see a thick, defensive, smoke screen in every bar in France. The bar has signs with those words on, to warn you of the smoking there.

Ok, Roog, I found this next one myself. Notice the person with the wookiee tattoo? He seems to have an awful lot of body hair in the first place:

What were they thinking:regrettable tattoos.