You're the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women's

You're the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women's Friendships

This warm, wise exploration of female friendship from the #1 bestselling author of You Just Donâ€™t Understand will help women lean into these powerful relationships.

Best friend, old friend, good friend, bff, college roommate, neighbor, workplace confidante: Womenâ€™s friendships are a lifeline in times of trouble and a support system for daily life. A friend can be like a sister, daughter, mother, mentor, therapist, or confessorâ€”or she can be all of these at once. Sheâ€™s seen you at your worst and celebrates you at your best. Figuring out what it means to be friends is, in the end, no less than figuring out how we connect to other people.

In this illuminating and validating new book, #1Â New York Times bestselling author Deborah Tannen deconstructs the ways women friends talk and how those ways can bring friends closer or pull them apart. From casual chatting to intimate confiding, from talking about problems to telling what you had for dinner, Tannen uncovers the patterns of communication and miscommunication that affect friendships at different points in our lives. She shows how even the best of friendsâ€”with the best intentionsâ€”can say the wrong thing, and how words can repair the damage done by words. Through Tannenâ€™s signature insight, humor, and ability to present pitch-perfect real-life dialogue, readers will see themselves and their friendships on every page. The book explains

â€¢ the power of women friends who show empathy, give adviceâ€”or just listen
â€¢ how women use talk to connect to friendsâ€”and to subtly compete
â€¢ how â€œFear of Being Left Outâ€ and â€œFear of Getting Kicked Outâ€ can haunt womenâ€™s friendships
â€¢ how social media is reshaping communication and relationships

Drawing on interviews with eighty women of diverse backgrounds, ranging in age from nine to ninety-seven, Youâ€™re the Only One I Can Tell gets to the heart of womenâ€™s friendshipsâ€”how they work or fail, how they help or hurt, and how we can make them better.

Praise for Youâ€™re the Only One I Can Tell

â€œMen will enjoy and profit from this book as much as women will. . . . The moral of these stories [is that] the need for friendship is forever, no matter what forms it takes.â€â€”The Wall Street Journal

â€œA book about friendship that is also interested in the miscommunication that can so complicate it . . . The language, in this book about language, is saturated with concepts that apply equally well to romance in its more traditional forms. The language, too, celebrates friendship in its frustrations and its rewards and, above all, its wonderful complexity. It is promoting friendship from a supporting character into a starring role. . . . The loves that the linguist explores in her romantically named book are not merely ones that comfort and sustain women until, one day, the real thing comes along. They are the real thing.â€â€”The Atlantic

â€œAt a time when the messages we give and get have so many more ways to be misconstrued and potentially damaging, a book that takes apart our language becomes almost vital to our survival as friends.â€â€”The Washington Post

â€œWith knowledge and wisdom, the author helps readers navigate the subtle workings of language in interactions among women.â€â€”Library Journal

â€œ[Tannenâ€™s]extensive research and writing, full of thought-provoking questions along with facts, are sure to hook readers enticed by her rich topic.â€â€”Booklist
Country USA
Brand Ballantine Books
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2017-05-02
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781101885802

Country	USA
Brand	Ballantine Books
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2017-05-02
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781101885802

You're the Only One I Can Tell: Inside the Language of Women's Friendships

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