Deborah Tannen

Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence. To survive in the world, we have to act in concert with others, but to survive as ourselves, rather than simply as cogs in a wheel, we have to act alone.

We all know we are unique individuals, but we tend to see others as representatives of groups.

For women, detailed conversation is our lifeblood, while for men it's just not as critical.

You're not from Puerto Rico, so you should say Puerto Rico like all the other people from the place that you come from.