Stupid stupid stupid

February 26, 2009 12:36 PM

Waste of a question-filter: Can anybody remember one of those stupid "do you think more like a man or woman" tests?

I'm trying to remeber one of those stupid tests kids ask each other to trick each other. Only thing I can really remember about it is that it involved about 5 questions and one question involved how you look at fingernails. A bloke would curl his fingers over his hand, while a woman apparently would stretch her hand hand out with fingers stretched straight out. Can anyone remember the rest of the questions?

Can't believe I'm asking this. Urgh.

posted by Mave_80 to human relations (20 comments total)

Look at the side of your shoe.

Lifting foot and looking at inner side = man
Lifting foot and looking at outer side = woman

These never made sense to me either.
posted by SpiffyRob at 12:38 PM on February 26

Looking at your fingernails:

Holding your hands out, palms down, fingers extended = feminine.
Flipping your palms up with fingers curled = masculine.
posted by Pax at 12:59 PM on February 26

I found your example, something similar to SpiffyRob's example, and two others in this Google book search (from a book called Blackouts).

Besides fingernails:

Checking the sole of your shoe by bending your leg back and looking over your shoulder: female. Lifting your foot sideways in front of the other leg: male.

Tapping the ash from your cigarette with your index finger: female. Flicking the filter end with your thumb: male

Blowing out a match: female. Shaking it out: male.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:01 PM on February 26

Look at the ceiling/sky.

Tilting your head to look = man.
Rolling your eyes up to look = woman.

(Which seriously disadvantages those of us who wear glasses - obviously you need to tilt your head up to really see the ceiling!)
posted by firei at 1:28 PM on February 26

If you like the Three Stooges, you're a man. If you think the Three Stooges are horrible and violent, you're a woman.

It works most of the time, though not always.
posted by bondcliff at 1:34 PM on February 26

Carry your books at your side = man
Carry your books against your chest = woman
posted by Joe Beese at 1:42 PM on February 26

Apparently, I am a man. Someone should tell my vagina.

In all seriousness, you might find the brain sex test over at BBC interesting. I don't think it was the test you were thinking of, though it's probably a more sophisticated version. For what it's worth, I think it guessed both me and my husband correctly.
posted by theantikitty at 2:02 PM on February 26

The brain sex test at the BBC is the "best" I've ever encountered, because it put myself and my partner at 50% each gender. Hawt.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:07 PM on February 26

I'm apparently a man too, even according to the BBC. Someone call the factory!
posted by vaguelyweird at 2:42 PM on February 26

The one I remember from grade school — which may date me! — is:

Catching something tossed into your lap by closing your legs to trap it= male
Catching something tossed into your lap by spreading your legs to stretch your skirt flat = woman
posted by nicwolff at 3:33 PM on February 26

Stretch your arms out in front of you, palms up, wrists touching.

If you can touch your elbows together= woman
If not= man

Turns out most of the skinnier men I know can touch their elbows together in this position, though they find it awkward.
posted by small_ruminant at 3:40 PM on February 26

nicwolff, that one was in Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer. I remember because when the teacher tried to explain it, it turned out there wasn't a single skirt in the classroom to demonstrate.
posted by small_ruminant at 3:41 PM on February 26

I remember a physical test, but couldn't find a link. Leaning or bent over a chair against a wall, with your head against the wall -- men can pick up the chair (by its seat) but for some reason, women cannot.


If you like the Three Stooges, you're a man.

No, the question's actually, Marx Bros or 3 Stooges?
If you choose the latter, you're a jock.
posted by Rash at 3:42 PM on February 26

It's Huckleberry Finn who is found out as a boy when he tries to pass as a girl by the way he tries to thread a needle, throws a piece of lead and catches something in his lap.
posted by brujita at 8:33 PM on February 26

I remember a physical test, but couldn't find a link. Leaning or bent over a chair against a wall, with your head against the wall -- men can pick up the chair (by its seat) but for some reason, women cannot.

The other way around, I think.
posted by booksandlibretti at 9:23 PM on February 26

Besides the nails thing I remember in elementary school kids asking how you sat in a chair.

If you sat with your legs crossed knee over knee you were a girl, if you sat with your ankle over your knee you were a guy.
posted by elysenavidad at 9:24 PM on February 26

It's not how Huck throws the piece of lead, it's that he hit the rat rather than missing.

BBC also thinks I'm a man (as do all but one of these other "tests" here). Wonder how mefi-users skew relative to the general population? Wonder how many of these tests are culturally dependent as strongly as they are gender dependent?
posted by nat at 9:27 PM on February 26

Also, and I might have made this one up, taking off a non-buttondown shirt (one's own):

Crossing your arms in front of you and downwards at your hips and then lifting up (shirt inside-out) = Feminine. (Both?)

Reaching your arms above your head and down to your shoulder blades and pulling the shirt off right-side-out = masculine
posted by Pax at 6:38 AM on February 27

Thank you, booksandlibretti!

There's also the whole thing about "throwing like a girl" -- these instructions tell how not to).
posted by Rash at 12:02 PM on February 27

I remember a physical test, but couldn't find a link. Leaning or bent over a chair against a wall, with your head against the wall -- men can pick up the chair (by its seat) but for some reason, women cannot.

The other way around, I think.

Well, no. Neither, actually.

Both men and women can pick the chair up.

The difference is that women (generally speaking) can then stand up straight, whereas men (generally speaking) are stuck with their heads against the wall until they put the chair down.
posted by Flunkie at 4:47 PM on April 20