On to the next thing - Answers to the "What Gender am I" exercise.

[featherynscale]

As promised, the results and answers to the first round of the "What Gender Am I?" game.

1. Courk. 95% of respondents thought that Courk was male, and they were wrong. Courk is female.
2. MeMe. 95% of respondents thought that MeMe was female, and they were right.
3. Jadesmar. Most people (80%) thought that Jadesmar was female, but they were also wrong. Jadesmar is a guy.
4. Sofis. 70% thought that Sofis was female, but they, too were wrong - Sofis is a beautiful and decadent boy.
5. Werebear 80% thought that Werebear was male, and indeed he is, and apparently quite furry.
6. JDTAY. 85% thought that JDTAY was male, and they were also right.
7. Hitchhiker. 80% thought that Hitchhiker was male, but she is, in fact, a girl.
8. Lepton. 90% thought that Lepton was male, which is true.
9. Pie_is_good. The populace was divided on the issue of Pie_is_good, with 50% choosing female and 45% choosing male. Pie_is_good lists himself as male.
10. The Critic. 90% thought that The Critic would be male, but no. She is female.
11. Serenity. 95% thought that Serenity was female, but they were wrong.
12. EEEM. 70% thought that EEEM was male, but they were also wrong. EEEM is a beautiful redheaded chick.
13. L'lanmal. Also a divider, not a uniter, 50% thought that L'lanmal was female, and 45% said male. L'lanmal is male.
14. IrishDrums04. 63.2% thought that IrishDrums04 was male, but she is a girl.
15. TANSTAAFL. 60% thought TANSTAAFL was male, but she is also a girl.

So here's the scoop. On 11 of 15 items, 70% or more of respondents chose the same option. (N=20, for those keeping score at home. Sample is small, but this is for personal amusement, not for publication.) On the 11 items that 70% or more agreed on, the crowd was correct 4 times, and incorrect 7 times. On the closer items, the majority was incorrect on all 4 items. The simple majority of respondents were able to correctly determine gender 4 times out of 15.

So now what I want to know is this: Why did you answer the way you did? What made you think that a name was male or female? You don't have to tell me about everybody, just the ones you're able to articulate a reason on (or just the ones you want to talk about).

Also, apologies to saberkitty, who knew everybody.

Comments

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

1. Courk. Male ("urk" looks male to me)
2. MeMe. Female (names ending in 'e' and repetitious names often seem female)
3. Jadesmar. Female (Jade is a fairly common female name, though I had to wonder if it was possessive (Jade's..)
4. Sofis. Male (Actually inverse logic to above - Sofi sounds female, therefore this could be "Sofi's man". Also, it sounds like something off of Star Trek)
5. Knew Werebear was male, but would have guessed it anyway.
6. JDTAY. Female (I worked with a guy named JD, and my own initials are the same. therefore metaknowledge says you wouldn't include the name unless it was supposed to be ambiguous)
7. Hitchhiker. Male (the old show The Hitchhiker biased me)
8. Lepton. Male (science name, plus -on ending)
9. Pie_is_good. Female (although you told me the answer to this one the other day, I had always had in mind that 'pie' was female)
10. The Critic. Male (definite article speaks of self-assuredness, men are socialized to be more critical than females)
11. Serenity. Female (common name/screen name for women)
12. EEEM. Male (reminded me of IEEE, the engineering association, which is composed of mostly men)
13. L'lanmal. Male (tough one - the apparent foreign language made it ambiguous, but the end looks like 'animal', which tends to be a masculine epithet)
14. IrishDrums04. Female (couldn't tell you why though, possibly the same as #6)
15. TANSTAAFL. Female (no idea why, you may have told me the answer one day a long time ago)

How's that?