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9/10: Not bad, but you're no Sir Vidia Foxhead Send a noteboard - 03/06/2011 04:56:08 PM
which i think is mean as i never claimed to be

There are always people out there who would claim that men and women write inherently different types of fiction/language/whatever. The latest such is V.S. Naipaul. I have always been sceptical of the claim and I find it absurd that a well respected author like Naipaul, who has spent his writing life tackling another form of marginalisation, would spout such nonsense.

Anyway. Here is a test. I'd be interested to hear what you get, as a semi-scientific sampling of the reading public (please let me know if you get something right because you recognise the passage).


i think from less acclomplished writers it's easier to tell through their use of language, it's obviously harder the better they are as they become better at emoting the voice of the person they're narrating (male or female)

it didn't take more than a quick skim of each paragraph for me to decide
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Sex and writing - 03/06/2011 03:45:43 PM 1696 Views
This test simply reinforced a completely different opinion of mine. - 03/06/2011 04:07:26 PM 1128 Views
Literature reflects society. Welcome to the age of text messaging *NM* - 03/06/2011 06:08:53 PM 534 Views
Agreed. *NM* - 03/06/2011 10:14:05 PM 492 Views
I really disliked those excerpts as well - 04/06/2011 02:10:36 AM 1067 Views
5/10. Exactly as chance would predict. *NM* - 22/06/2011 11:27:25 AM 518 Views
6/10 - 03/06/2011 04:34:19 PM 1062 Views
9/10: Not bad, but you're no Sir Vidia - 03/06/2011 04:56:08 PM 1245 Views
6/10! *NM* - 03/06/2011 06:06:09 PM 521 Views
7/10. - 03/06/2011 07:15:44 PM 1150 Views
6/10. Would be 7/10 but I thought #10 was a trick question. *NM* - 03/06/2011 07:17:51 PM 504 Views
8/10, but that is really largely luck if you ask me. - 03/06/2011 07:45:07 PM 1225 Views
7/10 - 03/06/2011 09:52:40 PM 1091 Views
5/10 I was guessing on all of them though. - 03/06/2011 11:19:09 PM 1111 Views
8/10 - 04/06/2011 12:54:02 AM 1100 Views
Guessed all the way through. 2/10 - 04/06/2011 04:06:08 AM 1019 Views
9/10, but that doesn't mean a thing... - 04/06/2011 08:06:00 AM 1168 Views
I also got 4 out of 10 - 04/06/2011 02:17:50 PM 1140 Views
At the same time? - 06/06/2011 04:54:09 PM 1103 Views
7/10 *NM* - 22/06/2011 08:49:07 PM 548 Views
These results don't prove Naipaul wrong - 30/06/2011 07:58:39 PM 1234 Views

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