The stereotype that women are more talkative than men is pervasive across many cultures and generations. Professional dialect coach Erik Singer recently argued that this widely held belief doesn’t have the evidence to back it up…and he brought receipts.

It’s safe to say that Singer, who has dedicated over 20 years to deeply understanding dialects and accents, helped actors pull off career-changing accent work, and produced countless viral videos meticulously breaking down various accent mechanics, knows a thing or two about talking.

Singer's latest video took a slightly different direction than his usual content. In it, he explained how the often-cited statistic that women on average talk three times more than men (or 20,000 words a day vs. 7,000) is, essentially, “made up out of thin air.”

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Originally, it came from a 2006 book titled The Female Brain, written by neuroscientist Louann Brizendine, M.D. The source for that stat was a self-help book called Talk Language: How to Use Conversation for Profit and Pleasure, which originated in Love for a Lifetime, a marriage advice book based on Christian principles, which were made up by the author, James C. Dobson. A great example of why one should always check their sources, folks.

Singer then showed an actual study from 1988 titled "Gender differences in Verbal Ability: a Meta-Analysis,” which found that the difference was only one-tenth of one standard deviation. Or, as Singer put it, “zip, nothing.”

Following that, Singer cited Deborah Tannen’s "Understanding Gender Differences in Amount of Talk: a Critical Review of Research," which showed that not only is this belief not supported, but that actual studies showed there was either no difference between men and women in the amount of talk, or that men, in fact, talked more than women.

And yet, this belief might seem like it’s true simply because it’s so deeply ingrained into our collective psyche. Just take a look at some of these proverbs that Singer effortlessly rattled off:

Irish- “Wherever there are women, there’s talking. Wherever there’s geese, there’s cackling.”

Romanian- “Where there are women and geese, there wants no noise.”

American- “When both husband and wife wear pants, it is not difficult to tell them apart. He is the one who is listening.”

Singer even noted how the word “noisy” is made from placing the word “women” three times together in a triangle in an archaic Japanese proverb.

The truth is, as Singer noted, that how often someone speaks depends far more on individual circumstances (whether a person works alone at home versus interacting with clients all day, for example) rather than gender. Breaking down unfounded tropes like these might help us all engage less in unnecessary division and start seeing things more objectively.

It certainly makes you wonder: what other stats about men vs women are completely made up?

Should this automatically be considered "noisy?" Really?Photo credit: Canva

For more interesting accent and dialect content, give Singer a follow on Instagram.

Ribal Zebian, a student from the city of London in Ontario, Canada, already made headlines last year when he built an electric car out of wood and earned a $120,000 scholarship from it. Now, he's in the news again for something a little different. Concerned with homelessness in his hometown, Zebian got to work creating a different kind of affordable housing made from fiberglass material. In fact, he’s so confident in his idea that the 18-year-old plans on living in it for a year to test it out himself.

Currently an engineering student at Western University, Zebian was concerned by both the rising population of the unhoused in his community and the rising cost of housing overall. With that in mind, he conjured up a blueprint for a modular home that would help address both problems.

Zebian’s version of a modular home would be made of fiberglass panels and thermoplastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam. He chose those materials because he believes they can make a sturdy dwelling in a short amount of time—specifically in just a single day.

“With fiberglass you can make extravagant molds, and you can replicate those,” Zebian told CTV News. “It can be duplicated. And for our roofing system, we’re not using the traditional truss method. We’re using actually an insulated core PET foam that supports the structure and structural integrity of the roof.”

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Zebian also believes these homes don’t have to be purely utilitarian—they can also offer attractive design and customizable features to make them personal and appealing.

“Essentially, what I’m trying to do is bring a home to the public that could be built in one day, is affordable, and still carries some architecturally striking features,” he said to the London Free Press. “We don’t want to be bringing a house to Canadians that is just boxy and that not much thought was put into it.”

Beginning in May 2026, Zebian is putting his modular home prototype to the test by living inside of a unit for a full year with the hope of working out any and all kinks before approaching manufacturers.

“We want to see if we can make it through all four seasons- summer, winter, spring, and fall,” said Zebian. “But that’s not the only thing. When you live in something that long and use it, you can notice every single mistake and error, and you can optimize for the best experience.”

While Zebian knows that his modular homes aren't a long-term solution to either the homeless or housing crisis, he believes they could provide an inexpensive option to help people get the shelter they need until certain policies are reformed so the unhoused can find affordable permanent dwellings.

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