They are doing two things:

1) Talking about themselves. "Do I look all right?" "Look at me, I dribbled food on my chest, now I look stupid!" "Is this the right color of lipstick?" "What's wrong with my hair today!"

and they are:

2) Talking about the men. "Isn't he cute?" "Do you think he'll ask me out again?" "He's so fine..." .... of course, if this is a relationship that is headed south, the conversation may lean toward, "He's so stupid."

Men aren't raised to be cautious that way, so they don't need the "strength in numbers."

There is also the talking and the using the facilities and the fixing of makeup (it's rude to fix makeup in public, dontcha know). And if the restroom is tastefully decorated (the fancier the restaurant, the fancier the ladies restroom), there is oohing and ahhing about the decor.

Here's how the conversation will probably play out:

Questioner: So the other woman and I left the table to go to the bathroom. We were going to--

Mr. Writing Person: Do heroin, yes, I know. And practice kissing.

Q: What? No, we were not! We were going to--

MWP: You ignorant Philistine. Denial might work fine for you in real life, but fiction requires honesty.

Q: But I don't do heroin!

MWP: Ah, so the kissing part is true? Excellent. All truly great novels have kissing in them.

Q: I don't remember there being any kissing in Moby Dick.

MWP: You ignorant heroin-addicted Philistine. It was symbolic. Luckily for you, I'm here to explain these subtleties. Remember the scene where Abraham Lincoln gets into a fistfight with Captain Ahab?

Q: Uh, no.

MWP: You ignorant Philistine.

Beth, I'd say that was a great spoof, but it's too accurate of a rendering of what he'll actually do in his next column.

You can tell us apart easily: Mr. Writing Person is the one who thinks "alright" is ok.

Everyone else who didn't: thank you.

There's no way Beth is a pseudonym. It's illiterate Philistine, not ignorant. And yes, we diverge on the "alright" thing, too. (It's the posterior injective of "all right," okay? By the way, this one's making it into the "fack" I'm posting on Monday morning.)

Other than that, we're identical. Except the gender thing. And location. Genes, etc. Gravity, though, we have in common. I think.

EDIT: This is actually about eight Ask Mr. Writing Person columns out. I've produced a shameful number of them in just a few weeks. It disturbs me.

And Beth pretty much nailed the last part of it, except it's not about the questioner going to the restroom, it's about Cher, Paris, and Hildegarde.

You're an illiterate Philistine.

The only difference is that getting laughed out of the hobby/business will happen a lot sooner.

"Oh yeah. the old restroom en masse joke."

Do they ever wonder what we all talk about when they are gone?

'Sheesh mate, lights are on but no-one's home!' number one guy says.
'You happen to be talking about the woman I love...' number two guy replies looking miserable and staring at his drink.
Pause.
Another pause while number one guys makes unobtrusive, let's get out of here gesture to number three guy.
Yet another pause while number three guy thinks of something.
'Might go see if the bar is still open... ' number three guy suggests.
'Ooh wait, I'll come too...' number one guy chimes in. 'You want anything Joe?'
'More scotch...double.' says number two guy

I used to date a girl who would occasionally flip out a little round mirror and furtively check her make-up. Clearly not for my benefit because she would check who was looking and if it was only me she'd go right on ahead and fix her lipstick. So one day when she did it I asked if I could borrow the mirror and got out a disposable razor I had brought and neatened-up my top lip.

No... she didn't think it was particularly funny either.

I know it's an old joke, but Mr. Writing Person has his own unique twists on the idea. Mutagen-injected nuclear garden lizards, for example. And... three guys in a bathroom, primping themselves. One says, "Can you zip me up?"

hoptoad, anything a woman does involving lipstick is potentially flirtatious. It's little wonder she took your little turn-about play the wrong way, since you were probably taking her preening the wrong way. Of course, we may be working from different data sets, I probably never took the woman in question to dinner, after all.

As for a bunch of guys all going to the bathroom together...some women might find it wierd, but their initial instinct would probably be delight at getting to stay at the table together. And some might find the idea of a man who is comfortable "being sociable" with other men attractive. Of course, men and women have fundamentally different modes of sociability, women almost never recognize male socialization for what it is and men find female socialization superficial (and a little creepy if it happens between men).

quote:

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I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on various subjects; several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.

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Just wanted to get us back onto rigorous ground, you know.

By the way, quidscribis, I first read your post like this:

quote:

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Um, personally, I like going to the bathroom with girls because, as odd as this sounds, I'm easily confused in buildings and have a tendency to get lost...

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quote:

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I thought you were a guy and kept waiting for the punch line.

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You must have missed her many references to her husband

And, regarding the mission in the bathroom... sometimes we women just need to pee.