No, I don't mean just the gender pay gap,

不只是只說男女薪資的差異

I'm also talking about the different words we use

也有我們形容有同樣特質的男性和女性時

to describe men and women with the same characteristics.

會使用不同的字

While he is described as charismatic,

這個男人有魅力

she's often described as bubbly or vivacious.

而這個女性很活潑、使人愉快

You wouldn't describe him as an airhead, he's just simple.

我們不太會用說他愚笨，只是單純而已

She's an airhead.

但會這樣說她

She's bossy.

她很專橫

He's assertive.

他頗果斷

Women are far more likely than men

女性比男性更有可能

to be described as gossiping.

被說很愛說長道短

If you don't believe me, after this film,

如果你不信，看完影片之後

try a Google images search for gossip.

可以試試看在Google圖片搜尋「八卦」

Unlike French, German, Spanish, Polish,

不像法語、德語、西班牙語、波蘭語、

practically any other European language,

和幾乎所有歐洲的語言

English doesn't have gender inherent in most of its words.

英文文字沒有性別之分

But some of those words become gendered anyway when choose

但當我們選擇不同的字形容男性和女性時

different words to describe men and women.

有些字會被賦予性別

Feisty is a classic example.

Feisty (易怒敏感的) 是經典的例子

It's rare to hear a man described as feisty.

很少會聽到男人被說脾氣不好

Sure, you could hear about a feisty boxer

當然你可能聽過別人說拳擊手脾氣不好

but it's a lot more likely to describe a flyweight

不過通常這會用來形容輕量級拳擊手

than a heavyweight.

而非重量級拳擊手

That's why some women hear feisty

這就是為什麼女性把 feisty

as applying a kind of figurative or literal smallness

當作小氣的比喻、

in them and hence a note of condescension.

有點高傲的意涵

Academics from the University of Illinois

伊利諾大學的學術界

and the University of California analyzed over 100,000 works

和加州大學分析超過十萬本

of fiction written between 1800 and 2010.

1800~2010年之間寫成的小說

They identified words connecting to male or female

尋找與男性及女性角色

characters and the actions they performed.

連結的字詞與行動

The study showed that the word house used to be a strongly

研究顯示「住宅」在1800年代

male term in the 1800s.

和男性有強烈連結

House was associated with the landed gentry

「住宅」在維多利亞時代

in Victorian era.

與擁有土地的紳士有關

But as the 20th century wore on,

不過在二十世紀，

house became a slightly more female term

這個字稍微變成跟女性有關的字，

associated with domesticity.

和家務事有關

The writer Ben Blatt found that the verbs

作家班布萊特認為在古典小說裡

most associated with the pronoun she in classic fiction are:

與女性「她」有關的動詞有：

shivered, wept, murmured, screamed, and married.

顫抖、啜泣、低語、尖叫、結婚

The most commonly associated with he are:

跟男性他最普遍相關的動詞有：

muttered, grinned, shouted, chuckled, and killed.

嘀咕、開口笑、大喊、咯咯笑、殺害

An algorithm used by those academics who studied house

一些研究機構的學者嘗試用演算法

tries to determine a character's gender based only

只以描寫角色和對話所用的語言為基礎，

on the language used in descriptions and dialogue.

判斷角色的性別

These predictions were right 75% of the time

有鑑於 1800 年代的書籍，那些預測有百分之七十五的準確率

for books written around 1800 but that falls to just about

但在 2000 年左右的書籍

65% of the time in books written around 2000.

準確度降至百分之六十五

In other words, the vocabulary used to describe

也就是說男性與女性用字

women and men is becoming more blurred.

界線變得比較模糊

So the gender stereotypes like feisty are less common

所以像是「脾氣差的」性別刻板印象

than they used to be.

沒有過去那麼普遍了

Nearly all words have different shades of meaning.

幾乎全部的字都有不同意義

While the speaker intends the positive one,

也許說話者是指正向的意涵，

the hearer often hears the negative.

但聽者通常會曲解為有負面意義

And that's a good reason to avoid compliments that convey

這是避免有驚訝情緒讚美的

a note of surprise.

好理由

Lane, you are so articulate.

藍恩，你好會說話

Really?

是嗎？

Scouring your mind for a vocative language isn't easy

在心中回想稱呼語並不容易

but working hard to be original and to avoid giving

但請努力貼近原意，

unwanted offense can only be a good thing.

避免不必要的冒犯是很好的