June 01, 2005 :: Battle of the sexes: Taboo edition

I played Taboo at a barbecue on Monday. (Not familiar with the game? An explanation is available here.) As usual, the teams were divided into men vs women. This time, though, I had to play with the women's team because I was late, and they already had five men to four women. I agreed to defect, for the sake of helping out the women, who were already badly losing when I arrived.

Women always seem to lose at Taboo. I quickly discovered that these women were no exception. I had to read clue cards immediately. Here are some examples of clues I gave:

"One of the top fast-food chains has this as their #1 sandwich."

"The original funk band, they featured George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. Also, the people who run the country in Britain sit here."

Maybe not the best clues ever, but all the men on the other team instantly knew what I was talking about. At least with the sandwiches, the women were guessing, albeit very, very badly. "Big Mac!" A good guess, but no. "Quarter Pounder!" I said "The other big chain!" They were clueless. Time expired. Even worse, the funk band clue elicited silence and blank stares from my team, as the men chuckled and laughed.

It gave me a chance to see if I was a superior clue-giver or if women just don't think and communicate in a way that's good for Taboo. I'm inclined to think the latter. Women make an art out of not saying what they are really thinking. Here's an example, courtesy of datfuule:

Woman: I'm thirsty.

Man (to himself): So noted.

(MAN CONTINUES WATCHING TV)

(WOMAN BECOMES ANNOYED THAT HER THIRST IS UNSLAKED, AND DECIDES TO VERBALLY ABUSE MAN)

(MAN BECOMES CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT HE DID WRONG)

This is what she really wanted to happen:

Woman: I'm thirsty.

Man: What would you like me to get you from the fridge, honey?

This is how the man would expect things to happen:

Woman: I'm thirsty. Can you get me a beer?

Man: OK.

Note that the man wants the woman to say directly what she wants, to avoid confusion, whereas the woman wants the man to be so in tune with her and her needs that she doesn't even need to say it, he just telepathically gets it. In woman fantasy land, the interaction looks like this:

Man: You look thirsty. Would you like me to get you a beer?

Woman (to herself): He's such a wonderful man!

Obviously, men aren't telepathic and don't care to be, so that ain't happening. Hopefully one day women figure this out, so they can become better Taboo players, and worthy adversaries.

Oh, and the answers to the clues? "Whopper" and "Parliament".

posted by Rainmayun at 12:08 PM -

---