Women On Road To Nowhere (Study Finds Women Can't Read Maps)

Canada.com ^ | today | some dude

[OHelix]

If I'm ever on a commercial flight and see the pilot break out a map, I'll be little concerned!

[Guillermo]

LOL, so true.

Thanks for posting what I was thinking.

[elbucko]

I beg your pardon, my dad taught me to read maps.

I'll bet you can. In '97 I did a road trip in Britain with my wife and 22 yr old daughter. I gave her a huge map book of the UK. By day 2, we were buzzing along just fine. My daughter could even call out the exits at the "roundabouts" using the aviation "Clock" method. "OK Pop's, exit at 2:OO O'clock, next rounder". I am really proud of her.

[elbucko]

If I'm ever on a commercial flight and see the pilot break out a map, I'll be little concerned!

Understandable. But the pilot has opened the map of your flight hours before on the ground as he planned the flight. BTW, it is against FAA regulations to pilot an aircraft over an area that you do not have a CURRENT aviation map four. Believe me, there IS a paper chart (map) in the cockpit of any airliner you fly.

[brat]

I can. Whats wrong with me??? LOL

[elbucko]

you do not have a CURRENT aviation map four.

Well there you go Bucko! You can read a map, but you can't count and spell at the same time. Moron.

[kennyo]

What woman needs a map....??? ...I can read a map if I HAVE(need?) to also.

?????

[dagny taggert]

I have never, traditionally, been able to do the north-south, east-west thing. But being a math major, it seemed important in some way. I taught myself how to do it. I have to picture a map of the US, then flip the map around to the correct position. I am never wrong now. But it was an acquired skill. And not easy to do at 75 mph.

[dagny taggert]

LOL. My own pet peeve. :-)

[SteveH]

Oh, that's easy. UP is a right turn. DOWN is a left turn.

Uhh, OK, then... let me guess, going higher in an elevator is NORTH and lower is SOUTH? :-)

I have my suspicions that this convention is useful even between women. I suspect women don't often have to give directions because most of the time they are riding in the passenger seat (if they aren't in the back). Since as the non-driver, they don't take the blame when things go wrong, there is that much less incentive to give accurate or even meaningful directions...

[Harrison Bergeron]

"I'd say it's more like "sweeping generalizations."

Yes, that could be an acceptable description for a statistical "trend." It's a bell curve thing. People who use these methods and terms understand that there's a 10 to 20 percent population on either side of the norm who buck the "trend."

[cgbg]

women do far better when following a verbal set of directions, using landmarks to help them.

Around these parts the "landmarks" are always "white houses at the corner with a big oak tree in the front yard".

Unfortunately there are white houses with big oak trees at every corner in rural New England. ;-)

[myrabach]

I'm with you catspaw... I read maps, travel for a living and don't get lost. Back in my sailing days, I, too, was the navigator.

And I aced physics....

[frodolives]

Yes, don't pull out the map until you are well on your way to your destination! I love it when Hubbie does this to me, "Where are we going, again? Which exit?".

And this explains Lewis and Clark, and Sacajewea.

I'd say this is not a male-female distinction as so much as a rural-urban. My pal's idiot husband from New York could get lost six feet from the front door. His own.

[Catspaw]

But that's why this is a poorly-written article. It makes the assumption that all women can't read maps and all men can, based on the stury. It doesn't even state or infer that there are women who can read maps and men that can't.

[Bon mots]

Actually, my wife can read maps brilliantly. She is the navigator and she rarely, if ever screws up - in fact, I can't remember EVER getting lost. She cannot, however, fold the map when she's done. Oh, and don't let her back the car into the garage.

[myrabach]

My ex hubby asked directions ONCE... and no lie, I swear no lie... they had white canes!!!

[Harrison Bergeron]

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the reporter included the actual statistics in the article and the editor cut them out to meet the brevity and the 4th grade reading level newspaper publishing guidelines.

[Harrison Bergeron]

I can find my way doorstep to doorstep anywhere in the civilized world with a glance at a map, but I get momentarily confused if somebody asks me to distinguish my right from my left. Apparently this is a genetic thing because a few of my relatives have this same quirky trait. Braims are very complicated things. I'll be glad when somebody finally maps them.

[KineticKitty]

"Women ain't people and they can't understand normal thinking."

Did you get this from the Koran? I understand all of this sex war stuff and it's pretty hunorous, but women "ain't" people? Interesting opinion you have there.