July 13, 2007
Quick Guide
Off the Beaten Path - Meet the world's ugliest dog in our report on the lighter side of news.
Who Gabs? - Find out what a new study has to say about gender and the gift of gab.
Before We Go - Visit a public bathroom in China that has tourists flushing with pride.
Transcript
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: We are having a little fun with this new summer Webcast of CNN Student News. Thanks for logging on, everybody. I'm Carl Azuz. It is not a pretty sight and that's pretty much the point. Follow us Off the Beaten Path for a look at this and some other unusual images. And let's give them something to talk about. Specifically, who's got bigger mouths, men or women? You may be surprised. All right, you've probably figured out by now that this is no ordinary Webcast. We are bringing you "kicker" stories today, so called because they add a little kick to the news show and we get a kick out of seeing them. So to kick things off, test your canine cognition with this trivia question.
Shoutout
GEORGE RAMSAY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for the Shoutout! What is the smallest dog breed in the world? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it A) the Pomeranian, B) a Yorkshire terrier, C) the Chihuahua or D) the Jack Russell terrier? You've got three seconds -- GO! In this corner, weighing in between one and six pounds, the mighty chihuahua! It's the smallest natural breed on the planet!
AZUZ: OK, now not all chihuahuas are created equal. That is to say, not all are as unequivocally adorable as that one. Of course I'm a little biased here. That was mine. But when you mix a chihuahua with something else, the result can make you howl. The world's ugliest dog is what we're talking about, and it leads off this report from Off the Beaten Path.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: You won't find this on America's Next Top Model!
KAREN QUIGLEY, UGLY DOG'S OWNER: They don't even know what it is half the time. They think he's a monkey or, you know, a gremlin.
AZUZ: That'd be a compliment, but it's actually supposed to be a dog, a mix -- or wreck -- of a Chinese crested and a chihuahua. Now it's hard to look at something like this and not wonder about the tongue. Well actually it's hard to look at something like this, period. But about the tongue.
QUIGLEY: He just doesn't have any teeth on the left side of his mouth.
AZUZ: Oh, so that's all it is! Like so many mammals you know, the left side of his head is toothless.
QUIGLEY: So there's nothing to keep his tongue in there. It never goes in; it's out all the time.
AZUZ: Some folks don't seem to mind. Now whether or not you'd want to get this close to it, the owner of the horrendously homely hound says he wins over his skeptics with his pulchritudinous personality. He'd better.
QUIGLEY: People just adore him, and then they just -- everybody tells me he's cute. So he goes from ugly to cute like in a matter of minutes.
AZUZ: Wish I could do that.
AZUZ: Carrying on now, they sure know how to treat a lady at this fiesta in Finland. Who needs marriage counseling when you can just throw the wife over your shoulder and run away? We know the mirthfully married are supposed to carry each other through the good and bad times, but hey, a letdown here could induce injury! For some carry-on competitors, the experience was enchanting. Others were just happy to be on their own two feet again.
AZUZ: But water was a crucial commodity at the Summer Redneck Games in Dublin, and we ain't talking Dublin, Ireland. We mean the one in Georgia. One spirited Southerner dispelled misconceptions by describing what the games were not.
ELIZABETH CURRY: A lot of fighting, carrying on, and, you know, that we ain't got no sense. But there's a lot of folks out here that's got some sense!
AZUZ: After all, it takes a strong mind -- or at least stomach -- to bob for pickled pigs' feet. And though the word "redneck" may seem like an insult in some circles, here, the badge is worn with pride.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Is This Legit?
RAMSAY: Is This Legit? On average, American women talk twice as much as men. All joking aside, a new study suggests that women and men are almost mouth-to-mouth when it comes to talking.
AZUZ: Now what that means is that men apparently say about the same number of words as women per day. How do you qualify that? Well, Jeanne Moos takes us into the world of words to measure who's saying what and who is counting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yak, yak, yak.
PERSON ON THE STREET: Excuse me.
MOOS: Who do you think talks more, men or women?
PERSON ON THE STREET: Oh women, definitely. Are you kidding me? It's like no contest.
PERSON ON THE STREET: Women.
PERSON ON THE STREET: Women.
MOOS: Why do you think that?
PERSON ON THE STREET: Because I'm married.
MOOS: So is the author of the new study in the journal 'Science' entitled "Are women really more talkative than men?"
MOOS: Were you surprised?
VOICE OF MATTHIAS MEHL, PROFESSOR, UNIV. OF ARIZONA: I was surprised.
MOOS: Psychology professor Matthias Mehl at the University of Arizona says almost 400 male and female college students wore a voice recorder like this one that sampled sound for several days, picking up casual conversation.
PERSON ON RECORDING: It's like they're really nice.
MOOS: When researchers extrapolated the number of words spoken per day, it was almost the same for men and women.
PERSON ON THE STREET: Wow, 16,000. Whew!
MOOS: Actually men spoke about 500 words a day less, but the researchers called that statistically insignificant.
MEHL: One person, the most talkative participant, who happened to be male, used 47,000 words a day.
MOOS: Wow, he never shut up.
MOOS: And here you thought men only used their mouths to eat and drink and talk to the TV.
CLIP FROM FILM "THE BREAKUP": All the talking is really starting to drain me. And now I'm gonna have to watch all the highlights later to see what I missed here. Downtime is important. Downtime is important.
MOOS: And now we find out men gab just as much as women.
PERSON ON THE STREET: I gotta cut you off now. Hold on.
MOOS: Who talks more, men or women?
PERSON ON THE STREET: I certainly do in my family.
MOOS: If this sounds like the opposite of what you'd heard before, maybe you're thinking of "The Female Brain." That book quoted statistics showing women spoke 20,000 words versus a mere 7,000 for men. But the author now says her numbers were not based on reliable data.
MOOS: Do you think you talk a lot?
PERSON ON THE STREET: Definitely.
MOOS: Do you think you talk a lot?
PERSON ON THE STREET: No.
MOOS: Do you talk a lot?
PERSON ON THE STREET: Yes.
PERSON ON THE STREET: Trust her.
MOOS: Most folks we talked to didn't trust the new study.
MOOS: How many words a day do you think she is?
PERSON ON THE STREET: Oh definitely 55,422.
MOOS: Her nickname is "FM," because she talks all the time, like a radio.
PERSON ON THE STREET: And you can't fight with him. He just switches off.
MOOS: Do you think you talk a lot?
PERSON ON THE STREET: I don't think so, but a lot of men think I do.
MOOS: Took her ten words to say "yes." The stereotyping starts young.
MOOS: Who do you think talks more, you or your mom?
PERSON ON THE STREET: Mom.
MOOS: JEANNE MOOS, CNN, NEW YORK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: And before we go, a place to visit when you gotta go, if you know what I'm saying. Just when you thought all bathrooms were the same, some Chinese officials pooled their talents to create this and spread "toilet culture." Those are their words, not ours. What may just be the world's largest public bathroom contains four levels, TVs, gentle flowing music and more than a thousand receptacles for relief. Like the best things in life, it's totally free. And they say tourists are flushing with pride.
Goodbye
AZUZ: Ooh. Well that'll put this special edition of CNN Student News in the can. But please remember to check back throughout the summer for more programs like this one. I'm Carl Azuz. Hope to see you again soon. E-mail to a friend 
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