Not to be taken seriously

I sat in the doctor's waiting room this morning and leafed through a "psychology" magazine. It had all sorts of articles and statistics. Now I must admit, I adore statistics, and the more off beat the better.
This morning I learned that you are 15% more inclined to feel cheerful if you speak to a cheerful person. Makes sense, doesn't it? Then I started to wonder how they worked that out. How many people had to speak to cheerful people and what was their frame of mind beforehand and how could you measure it even if you knew? And what about the cheerful people? Were they cheerful beforehand or had they met someone who was cheerful thus making them 15% more cheerful?

I learned that 75% of American children over the age of 25 still live at home. At least 75% of social media users make their lives more exciting than they really are. 75% more millenials listen to music compared to baby boomers. 70% of people tested ate when not hungry if the food was placed in front of them and around 20% if food was on display.

I learned that married men had at least two affairs, married women three.(What, everyone's cheating?). I learned that two out of five children drop out of college or refuse to take a career path favoured by their parents. The trick here, obviously, is to have only the three children who don't create any hassle.

Like Alice in Wonderland, I came back to the present fighting off the questions and meekly followed the nurse into her den to get my blood test done.

Women like funny men - really?

An article titled "Women Like Funny Men" recently caught my eye.  I have to ask:  which women?  Let's face it we are individuals not a herd of sex-starved creatures looking for the ultimate thing in men and laughs.  I don't know how many women were surveyed, not that I think it's relevant.  If you're ticking boxes and you come across the question "would you be attracted to a man who made you laugh?" I guess most of us in the "women" category would answer yes. At any rate a funny guy is better than one who makes you cry, right?  That doesn't mean it's the only criteria we'd look for. I guess top of the list would be kindness, thoughtfulness, reliability, boring stuff like that which is so important in any relationship.

To get to the bottom of this interesting statistic I searched the web and found the statement "women like funny men for a fling."   Really?  Does this include a sleep starved mother with a six week old baby?  If a guy makes her laugh she's going to have a fling with him?  Where's she going to put the baby while she's doing that?

And following on from the funny guy idea, think about having the supreme joker around all the time. You'd get to hate that laugh wouldn't you?  When you are collapsed in an armchair after a hard and frustrating day at the office you want someone who'll listen to your grumbling not a stand up comedy act in your living room.  They should have gone for a question which goes something like "would you fall for a man who listens to you and massages your back at the same time?"  Now you're talking, right?

So statistics have proven yet again that they are not to be taken completely seriously.   And guys, you don't need to dash off and buy the latest joke book.  Us "statistics women" like to laugh but we like to be loved, too.