Fun with Spelling and Grammar

[Jennifer Piersol <jenP_97@yahoo.com>]

Mary Ann noted that she can spell and 
"grammarize" (sorry...) more naturally 
than her husband, and that her two 
oldest seem to be turning out to be 
apples falling closely to their parent 
trees, and then asked:

> I'm simply pointing out that what 
> comes naturally to Beth is a struggle 
> for Gareth.  Perhaps it's a 
> male/female thing.  Anyone know?

Well, there are theories, and you would 
think that I'd be familiar with them 
from college, but I have to admit that 
I saw what follows on a Discovery 
Channel (maybe TLC?) special about the 
difference in the sexes that stem from 
birth.  Anyway, it seems that girls 
are naturally better at language than 
boys are because of that dreaded 
hormone testosterone. (Okay, men... 
calm down.  I'll get to you in a 
second.)

All babies start off as female.  Then 
the Y chromosome is activated around 
week 6 (I think) of gestation, and 
testosterone production is turned on.  
When this happens, as well as turning 
on the creation of certain "naughty 
bits", it starts shaping the brain.  
What ends up happening is that the 
isthmus (sp?) between the hemispheres 
is either pared down to just the 
necessary connections (boy brains), or 
left to develop lots of redundant 
connections (girls).  While this means 
that boys are "great" at concentrating 
on single tasks, and solving problems, 
it makes girls "great" at language and 
reading the expressions/feelings of 
others.

Now, I'm not saying I buy all this... 
but it was fascinating television, and 
I would agree with 75% of it in any 
case.

JenP, who at the moment is watching 
Rolie Polie Olie - which isn't as 
fascinating.

PS.  Did you know that testosterone 
basically poisons boy babies?  It makes 
them so delicate that almost 20% of 
pregnancies that start off with a boy 
baby end in miscarriage.  That and they 
are more likely to suffer from brain 
damage/internal damage from accidents, 
abuse, and rough handling.  So when you 
meet your new little niece, all you 
aunts and uncles out there... don't be 
gentle with her, and then roughhouse 
with your nephews.  Play the other way 
around! ;)