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May 30, 2006
No way to misinterpret this one
A few weeks ago, somebody released a poll naming "top celebrity girlfriends". The results absolutely floored me.
If you had to pick who would be at the top, which of these people do you think would win?
Jennifer Aniston
Katie Couric
Rosie O'Donnell
Sandra Oh
Oprah Winfrey
Why yes, you'd think that with this list, Jennifer Aniston would get somewhere near 90% of the votes for best celebrity girlfriend. But you'd be wrooooong! According to this poll, Oprah Winfrey is the top celebrity girlfriend, with 36% of the vote. Ms. Perfect, Jennifer Aniston, got 34%. And Rosie O'Donnell? Sort of an ineligible receiver.
If you were like me, this poll probably made you think, wtf? I mean, more men would rather date Oprah Winfrey than Jennifer Aniston? After asking those three famous letters, my next question was naturally, who took this poll? My early guess was that the poll was of inmates in a women's prison, but the real answer irritated me to no end.
An outfit called "sisterwoman.com" released the poll, and all the news reports about the poll failed to mention an important distinction that the press release makes clear: this was a poll about "girlfriends," like when two women are friends, as opposed to "girlfriends," such as when a man and a woman are having a romantic relationship. Stupid old me read "celebrity girlfriend" and figured it meant romantic girlfriend, like almost every other similarly titled poll in the history of mankind. There could have been a whole lot less confusion if the dickhead who wrote this story could've SAID the poll meant "girlfriends" like between two women.
The whole women calling each other girlfriend thing really irritates me. Being a guy, when I hear "girlfriend," I think of a "significant other," not a gal pal. And everytime I hear a woman refer to her friend as a girlfriend, a slight twinge goes off in my brain as I have to tell myself she only means a pal.
My question is, why do women say this? How did that term evolve? And why can't we get some new term that clearly differentiates between platonic friends and romantic friends? Because, as my reading of this poll shows, a potentially important term like "girlfriend" shouldn't have two mutually exclusive meanings like that.
Finally, what are your suggestions for a term for a woman's female friend other than girlfriend?
Posted by oz115 at May 30, 2006 03:59 PM
Comments
I vote for gal pal!
Posted by: Candi at May 31, 2006 10:41 AM