... features asdirectness or indirectness, pacing and pausing,word choice, and the use of such elements as jokes,figures of speech, stories, questions, and apologies.In other words, linguistic style ... retiring. Her boss evensuggested she take an assertiveness training course.Thus slight differences in conversational style – inthese cases, a few seconds of pause – can have a sur-prising impact ... otherwords, to the subtle nuances of what others say tothem. Men tend to be sensitive to the power dy-namics of interaction, speaking in ways that posi-tion themselves as one up and resisting...