Instead, Jewish women tend to build linguistic solidarity through “opposition” (aka grumpily bickering like siblings). “Oppositional discussion itself creates intimacy because it signals that the relationship is strong enough to withstand serious differences of opinion,” Modan wrote. (“Tell me about it,” agreed my aunt Francie, one of the Jewish matriarchs of my family, after I summarized this paper for her a few Thanksgivings ago. “I have a couple friends I can barely stand talking to because we disagree on everything. Gotta love ’em.”)
