An Indiana University researcher has found that when it comes to sending SMS texts, women are more expressive and send longer messages than men.
Susan Herring analysed 1,164 gender-defined dating messages posted on-screen during an Italian music video show, and found that women push their messages closest to the character limit.
They also found that women are more likely than men to use abbreviations, insertions and incredibly annoying emoticons.
Shock findings: Men talk more
The research contradicts previous findings for most real life social situations, when men tend to dominate conversations while using more slang and jargon.
Apparently, in everyday life "women use standard language more than men because it is seen as a type of symbolic currency used to acquire upward mobility."
Which I think means that if you talk posh, people will treat you like you're posh.
Herring, a professor in the IU School of Library and Information Science, says: "In the linguistic marketplace there have always been different values associated with standard and non-standard language, and here we have found results that are paradoxical, that are the opposite of the recognized socio-linguistic gender patterns."
Which makes us glad we're not studying at the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University. But slightly sad that we're not watching saucy texts on an Italian music video programme.
