Pdc, Freda and Guest: Please read again what I wrote (remember, too, that the tone of this thread, initially, was light-hearted, and mine was the fourth post, in-keeping with that style):

I said:
"...I find a fair percentage of my own sex extremely irritating a lot of the time."
You will also see that I specified that I was referring to "Silly women, fussing endlessly over trivia."

This is plain English. Am I talking here about ALL women ? No, of course not ! Plain English speaks for itself. 'A fair percentage, a lot of the time' does not mean all, or anything like all. I think some VENN diagrams might be in order, here ;) (that is a wink symbol, just so we are clear on this !)

I also said:
"The idea of *choosing* to spend any length of time with a group of women exclusively is totally abhorrent to me."
That means: choosing to join an all women's group or take part in organized all women's activities. That is for the reason of balance, as in the example given by Bob(Deckman) in his post. Does that mean not choosing to have female friends ? No, of course not ! Again, this is Plain English.

Amos: Thank you. The people (male and female) I hang around with by choice fit your description of "strong, bright, frank and compassionate." They do say that 'birds of a feather flock together.'

- jeanie