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The Deferential Language Of Women At Work
ResumeA comment from actress Jennifer Lawrence is drawing attention to something many women experience every day at work. Lawrence wrote in Lena Dunham's newsletter "Lenny Letter" about giving her opinion in a meeting in a polite but blunt way:
The man I was working with (actually, he was working for me) said, “Whoa! We’re all on the same team here!” As if I was yelling at him. I was so shocked because nothing that I said was personal, offensive, or, to be honest, wrong. All I hear and see all day are men speaking their opinions, and I give mine in the same exact manner, and you would have thought I had said something offensive.
This got the attention of The Washington Post's Alexandra Petri, who wrote that "'Woman in a Meeting' is a language of its own." She demonstrated some of that language in her piece, "Famous quotes, the way a woman would have to say them during a meeting"
Linguistics professor Deborah Tannen discusses the deferential language of women at work with Here & Now's Robin Young.
Guest
- Deborah Tannen, linguistics professor at Georgetown University.
This segment aired on October 16, 2015.