[ClearCase_guy]

I used to complain about conversations (often with women) in which a story would be told about Sue, Mary, Betty and Diane and the story would go something like: “She told her she was coming but then she called and said she shouldn’t wait but she was thinking it was her fault and she made her get upset.”

Hard to follow.

Now stories can involve a group of both men and women and it’s all: “They did this to them and they thought they might not go unless it upset them. And they agreed with that but they didn’t.”

Hopeless.

[Albion Wilde]

...conversations (often with women) in which...the story would go something like: “She told her she was coming but then she called and said she shouldn’t wait but she was thinking it was her fault and she made her get upset.”

A pet peeve of mine, as well.

You know how you can use the arrow on your cell phone camera to turn the image around so you can see yourself in order to take a selfie? The art of conversation is rather like that. There are two frames of reference.

The number of people who can understand how their words sound to others—simultaneously while speaking those words—is very small, I'm afraid. And I agree; it's a mostly female problem.