"Tell me how you feel, come out of the dark/ Then we can head back home and I'll know where to start"
These are some of the lyrics to "Foreign Language" by Anberlin, a song that pops into my head almost any time I am discussing the differences between girls and guys with people... it seems so very true every time I think about it.
For instance, my coworkers and I were discussing how girls have double meanings and hidden layers to almost everything they say, whereas guys basically just say what they mean. This is also the premise of the movie He's Just Not That Into You. We were talking about the differences in communication between guys and girls.
Girls will read into every minute detail of every tiny thing that a guy does. "His eyes lingered on me a split second longer than they lingered on her." or "He texted me thanks with a smiley. He didn't have to put a smiley... but he did. That's a good sign!" or "He didn't text me back, but it's probably only because he's saving an orphan from a burning building or stuck under something heavy and really really wants to text me back." One word. Delusional. And never underestimate the power of girls in groups... they are incredible at encouraging this type of thinking... If you are worried because the boy of your dreams didn't text you back, all your friends will think of any and every perfectly good (albeit extremely unlikely) reason why he didn't. If you are wondering why he seemed so interested in some other girl, your friends will go on and on about how he was just talking to her, he didn't look very interested, and if he'd go for that type of girl over you, he's not worth it anyway.
Can we get a reality check please?
One thing I really appreciate about guys is the fact that He's Just Not That Into You kept pestering the irritated female audience with... it's very simple: If a guy likes you, he will ask you out. If he doesn't, he's just not that into you. It hurts, yes. It's not a fun thing to admit to yourself, and with female friends surrounding you, it's almost impossible to actually admit it without them protesting and thinking of so many reasons why that's just not true. But in reality, it probably is.
So, while girls drop hints that no guy could ever decipher, guys come right out and say it. And this is almost always an advantage. I have to constantly remind myself that guys don't speak in code like girls do. Guys don't do the I-won't-call-her-until-she-calls-me thing that girls do to their boyfriends all the time... guys don't embed secret birthday wishes in conversation, and they definitely don't get horribly offended when girls say something that seems extremely innocent unless taken to the worst possible extreme.
So in this sense at least, I feel for guys.
(But that doesn't excuse 90% of guys from needing to man up and treat girls the right way. Ahh but that is for another day)
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