The Weird Sign You're Perfect For Each Other

We guarantee you'll be thinking about this on your next date

Forget a mutual love of How I Met Your Mother or your eerily similar workout playlists; new research suggests that there's a better way to determine if you're soul mates, and it has to do with the way you speak. People who use the same function words—like pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and quantifiers—are more likely to couple up and stay together, according to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science.

Researchers at Texas Tech University had a hunch that speech was related to romance (dirty talk aside), so they conducted two studies on language style matching (LSM). LSM measures how much two people in a conversation subtly match each other's speaking or writing style, focusing on words like "I," "she," "those," "in," "about," "tons," "never," "very," "quite," "while," "because," and "can," among others. And even though we hardly ever realize we're saying words like these, researchers say they reveal a lot about our personalities. 

For the first study, the researchers analyzed speed dates between 40 men and 40 women. Surprisingly, the people who used similar function words were more likely to report being into each other at the end of the date. In the second study, researchers analyzed instant message conversations between 86 couples, looking again at language patterns. They asked about relationship satisfaction on the first day, then checked in three months later to see if the couple had lasted. And get this: Couples who used more similar function words were about twice as likely to be together three months later.

MORE: The 3 Traits That Tell You the Most About a Potential Love Interest 

Shockingly, LSM was a better predictor of romantic interest and relationship stability than self-reports. Even if someone thought they meshed with a date or were convinced they'd stick with their partner forever, the LSM knew better. 

MORE: 13 Things You Learn About Dating By the Time You're 30 

Obviously, this doesn't mean that you should start changing up your lingo during your next OkCupid date—you would probably sound ridiculous. (What are you going to do, keep saying "quite" for the rest of your life when you never used to?) But the researchers suggest we might already be subconsciously changing our speaking patterns to match someone else's when we're really engaged in the conversation, which could explain why it's so darn good at predicting a bond. Sure, it's a weird way to see if you might be a match—but it's definitely something to look out for on your next date. 

MORE: The Dating Behavior That 95 Percent of People Say Is a Major Turn-off  

10 Weird Facts About Cheating

You won't believe what researchers dug up this time

By Alexandra Churchill for YourTango

Size does matter…just not the size of what you think.

A new study claims that women are more likely to cheat on their man if he has big balls. (Yep, you read that right.) Researchers from the University of Oslo studied monkeys, grasshoppers, and sea urchins specifically—and they found that a female is more likely to have other sexual relationships if her mate has large testicles.

The testicles of humans are one-and-a-half times larger than those of gorillas—and researchers say this shows that we are an unfaithful race by nature.

Personally, we'd like to know why they decided to study monkeys, bugs, and sea urchins to determine human behavior, but we digress. The point is that you'd probably have to have big balls to interject yourself into someone else's relationship. (Bro code, guys?)

Hungry for other bizarre facts found from cheating studies? Here are 10 research-backed findings that had us doing a double take:

1. Facebook Could Foster Infidelity
A new study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking suggests that Facebook leads users to reconnect with old flings, which in turn, leads to more affairs, breakups, and divorces.

2. The French Are Big-Time Cheaters
The French are known as the world's best lovers, but they might not be the most loyal. In fact, a French poll found that a majority of men and a third of women admitted to cheating on their partners. Infidelity has been on the rise in that country since the 1970s, when only about 19 percent admitted to cheating.

3. Fakers Are More Likely to Cheat
If your partner is faking the big O in bed...watch out. It could be a sign that he or she is getting action from someone else. One study found that both men and women who faked orgasms were far more likely to be unfaithful.

4. Cheaters Love Chain Restaurants
Suspect that your partner is cheating? The first place you might want to scope out is a chain. (Yo quiero...an affair?) The infamous extra-marital affair dating website Ashley Madison asked more than 40,000 cheaters where they loved to wine and dine in secret and revealed the top 10 dining destinations to have an affair. Among them? Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, Chili's, and P.F. Chang's.

5. Cheaters Also Love Chain Stores
After delving into the dating habits of the unfaithful, AshleyMadison.com asked about their shopping habits. In their poll of 50,000-plus women, more than a third said they spend more money to keep up their looks for their secret lover. In addition, 27 percent said they have a secret credit card to keep their financial infidelity under wraps. So what are some of the most popular stores for cheaters? Banana Republic, J. Crew, Macy's, Ann Taylor, and H&M all ranked high on the list.

…Click here for 5 more weird facts about cheating from YourTango!

More From Your Tango:
Adultery: To Forgive Or Not To Forgive Your Partner
15 Funny Quotes About Sex From Famous Women We Love
Orgasms: Tips & Expert Advice

 

The Weird Thing That Makes You Less Likely to Break Up

And by weird, we really mean friggin’ awesome

All of those hours you're logging at work could help your relationship down the road: Couples with young children are more likely to stay together if the wife earns more than the husband, according to a new study published in the journal Sociology.

MORE: Do You Want to Be a Mom and Work Full Time?

For the study, researchers from the U.K. monitored 3,944 British couples with children (some married and some co-habitating). They looked at who was the primary breadwinner in each couple and noted how that corresponded with relationship changes as the children grew from 8 months to 7 years old.

The results? On the whole, it didn't matter who was the breadwinner in the relationship—there was no significant difference in breakup risk no matter who was bringing home the bacon. But when children were between the ages of 4 and 7 years old, married couples were 80 percent less likely to split if the woman had a larger salary. The stats were similar for cohabitating couples.

MORE: How Men Define "Having It All"

Study authors say further research is needed to fully understand how partners' wage differences affect couples, but they do point out that these findings help debase the myth that higher wages for women increase divorce risk. Somewhere in California, Sheryl Sandberg is smiling.

MORE: The Top Thing You Should Be Looking for in a Job