YOU'RE WEARING THAT?

The Battle of All Mothers
A Review By Megan Rosenfeld,
a former Washington Post reporter who is a freelance writer
Thursday, January 26, 2006; Page C01

YOU'RE WEARING THAT?
Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation
By Deborah Tannen
Random House. 272 pp. $24.95
A woman is standing with her brother at a family reunion when their mother walks over to them. Her greeting to her daughter: "What's that on your skin?" And: "What's with your hair?" And: "You've put on weight."


The son is shocked. "Does she always talk to you like that?" Well, of course she does. In this story from Deborah Tannen's new book, you may recognize your own mother -- or yourself. Or you may think, "What planet is this mother from?"

Tannen, a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, has claimed a franchise with her series of witty and accessible books that describe how we talk to -- and misunderstand -- each other. Her first bestseller, "You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation," came out in 1990, predating the gimmickier but similar "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" by two years. The gist of both is that men and women are different and thus have a hard time communicating. Tannen has since taken this basic wisdom and parlayed it into books about office issues, arguments and adult family relationships.
She may have run out the string with this one.