This morning I had my dreaded hair coloring appointment. I don’t mind going in every 5 weeks for my haircut but I just hate getting it colored. This morning it was a little different. We were alone for one. Normally there are other people either before me or come early and are there when I’m getting finished up or the phone is always ringing off the hook. There is really nothing nicer than sitting in the salon all covered in foil looking like the tin man for a person’s ego!
But Linda, my hairdresser has been very preoccupied. I’ve written about her before but just haven’t given her name. Her youngest daughter and “last child left at home” was going off to college and she had a really rough time of it. But today, she was back to her old self and I’ll tell you, we really laughed and it was so much fun. The time flew by. I didn’t like the way she styled my hair but that’s not her fault. I don’t like the way anyone “fixes” my hair except for me. Anyway…..
Why is it that women can get this way with each other? Do you all know what I mean? When I was on my bowling league it was like that. We would rake our husbands over the coals and laugh so hard we couldn’t even bowl. It’s all so innocent. We are sarcastic and quite frankly, bitches. But it’s all done in good humor and it’s all mainly joking around. There were times we got to laughing so hard and trying to bowl that when I got home my cheeks hurt as well as my side and back. I would try to tell my husband what was so funny but I guess you had to be there because he didn’t get it. Linda and I were like that this morning. Almost like young girls laughing at stupid things.
Do men do this when they’re alone with other men? Men and women don’t seem to act like this in mixed company. Why is that? Maybe men don’t talk about personal things. Just what do men talk about when for example, bowling. Do they just talk about bowling or do men make any small talk at all? I’d love to know.
I know when Nikki, Sue and I get together and we’re alone out on the deck, we can laugh like this. I have a few good friends who I laugh like this with too but for some reason, I don’t laugh like I do with men around as I do when it’s just the girls out together.
What do you think? Do you really laugh only really hard with a person of the same sex as you?
Us Girls..Our Views 
I don’t know, I suppose in some senses men just don’t get what we are talking about as if it is a foreign language they do not know. My friends and I tend to do it where ever and with who ever present, one short innocent comment and then the ball rolls and its tickets… my friends are scary in the wit department, surprised I don’t have six pack yet!
I think guys just have a different sense of humor and a different way of expressing it. They tend to be a bit restrained around wome – probably more than we are around them – because we could get offended by some of their jokes. When we’re brutal toward men (jokingly, of course), they usually don’t seem to take it personally.
I think that on average, guys may prefer a little quiet space to think rather than blab every thought that comes to mind. Not that all women do that, but I think on average, the tendency is for women to do more “thinking out loud” around their friends. A friend once explained to me that she feels like there’s something wrong if there is a space of silence when friends are together, so she’ll say something insubstantial rather than just sit and think. I wonder why that is? Are we likely to think about our worries during quiet times, and use talking to escape them? It’s an interesting question.
I find that I act very different depending on whom I’m with. With my family, I am animated and even loud about my opinions (that they share). We all get together and trash the “other side,” laughing and yelling the whole time. With friends, I’m more likely to be quiet and listen and choose my words more to support them or a common cause. I’ll still joke a lot, but not with the same abandon as with my family.
What a great post Joy. I know exactly what you mean. I can get together with my girlfriends and we can laugh till we wet our pants over the goofiest things. My husband doesn’t get it either. I just think women are more comfortable around each other.
My husband can go all the way to Winnipeg (a good hours drive one way) to get a part for a machine and will go with a friend and I’ll ask him questions about “what are they up to” to which he’ll say “I don’t know.” I’ll ask “how the kids are” and he’ll say “I don’t know.” He knows nothing and I’ll ask what they talked about and he says they didn’t talk. How can you be with someone for that long without talking about anything?????
Give me my girlfriends alone any day.
I’ve noticed that I laugh more with other women. But, when my family gets together we can ALL laugh a lot, especially when we are talking about our childhood.
This reminds me of my mom’s friend’s funeral. Her daughter is about my age, and while we don’t see each other often, we enjoy each other’s company. She stepped out of the memorial room to get some air and I encountered her there. She was feeling pretty bad and wanting a little distraction. Well, we got to talking about men (we were both single and 40), and before long we were laughing our butts off. Why? I think it’s just so nice to feel that there’s another person who understands with some depth what you’ve experienced – or at least some of it. And sharing that is a happy release.
So when is a guy going to weigh in here? Come on, we promise not to laugh.
there are certain people who bring it out in me. Could be men or women. I think it depends. Different people bring out different aspects of my personality. There is one girlfriend I have who brings out the total nut in me. But there are men who do too…
I’m not sure how I missed this one. I really like it Joy. To tell you the truth I have more guy friends than I do girls. The guys I hang around don’t filter ANYTHING b/c I’m a girl. I’m just one of the guys so I hear it all. They talk about everything from their wives to sex or just really stupid stuff that no one else would understand. They’ve even told me about their um….techniques!!! I do have a few girlfriends I can laugh like that with but not as many.