Generic statements, or generics, express generalizations about entire kinds (e.g., ""Girls" are good at a game called "tooki""). In contrast, nongeneric statements express facts about specific (sets of) individuals (e.g., "Jane is good at tooki"). Aside from simply conveying information, generics and nongenerics also instill different causal…

The study reported here examined the use of color terms by 36 male and female students in kindergarten through fifth grade in a suburban New York City school. The children were asked to label colors using the fanciest color term they could. The only significant difference found was between younger females and older females, tentatively indicating…