Cookie Chatterbox

You know you're a woman when you can spend twenty minutes having a lively conversation about an Oreo cookie.  

I did this recently with a friend from church. We were in the warehouse of a local charity, standing next to a box the size of a small car that was full of broken Oreo cookies. The cookies had been bagged up by the pound so we could place them into smaller boxes that would roll down the assembly line toward us and then be sent overseas to families in need along with other food items.  We both stared glossy-eyed at mountainous pile of crushed chocolaty lusciousness.

"Oreo cookies are just WRONG."
"I know, they are sooooo good."
"Can you believe all of these?"
"I know.  I just want to jump into this big box of Oreos and swim around with an open mouth."
"Oh my gosh, I TOTALLY hope that is what heaven is like!  A giant box of Oreo cookies."
"Yeah, with no diabetes to worry about."
"Or weight gain."
"Exactly!"
"You know what I love about Oreos?"
"Everything?"
"Exactly! But seriously, they are just like the perfect cookie.  That soft frosting and the crunchy chocolate hard cookie on the outside.  That is some good stuff."
"Totally.  Have you ever tried Double Stuff?"
"Oh yeah."
"What about the ones dipped in chocolate?"
"They dip these things in chocolate?"
"Oh yeah, and mint.  It's like a giant Oreo Girl Scout Cookie."
"No way!  I have to try one of those."
"Oh yeah, you totally do."
"I have been trying to be good though and lay off the sugar."
"Are you diabetic?"
"Almost.  Pre-diabetic."
"Bummer.  I know.  I was too a few years ago.  Turned it around though."
"How'd you do that?"
"Laid off the Oreos."
"Oh really."
"Yeah."
"Bummer."
"Totally."

There's a reason for all this extra chatter. A recent study showed that women have a more of the protein called Foxp2 in the language center of their brains than men do.  What does this mean?  We talk more.  Way more.  The scientists found that the average woman speaks 20,000 words per day compared to the average man who speaks about 7,000 per day.  I could have saved these scientists a lot of money on research. Of course women speak 13,000 more words per day than men!  We have Oreos (and depending on the season - Girl Scout Thin Mints) to talk about!
Duh.
Here's the thing.  I am not the most talkative woman on the planet.  If 20,000 is the average for women, and 7,000 for men - I'd say I'm at about 10 to 12, 000 per day.  I like to listen, to observe, let others do the talking and then chime in once in awhile, trying earnestly not to be sarcastic.  Certain people bring out the chat in me though - people who like to talk about ideas, what they've learned, books they've read, tough questions of the faith, dogs (and the crazy things they do), and of course, chocolate. So if you're up for some good conversation that involves any of the above, come on over and we'll use up some of those allotted words for the day.
Just don't forget the Oreos.

-Hope Horner, 2013
www.hopehorner.com
On Twitter @HopeNote