Judson speculates that saying "eeee" makes you "start to smile" (that's apparently why we say "cheese" in photographs), and the act of smiling can make us happy, saying words with "e" sounds might make us happy as well. And other sounds can produce different feelings. Judson describes a study that found "that if you read aloud a passage full of vowels that make you scowl - the German vowel sound ü, for example - you're likely to find yourself in a worse mood than if you read a story similar in content but without any instances of ü. Similarly, saying ü over and over again generates more feelings of ill will than repeating a or o."

So do languages with more a than ü for happier speakers? Certainly Italians, with all their -a and -o endings, are said to be garrulous and fun-loving, Germans more dour. But these are just stereotypes, and as someone whose second language is, um, Latin, I'm not qualified to judge the happy-making potential of any spoken tongue besides English. Perhaps bilingual commenters can help me out with this — do you find that you're jollier in one language than another? Relatedly, are some words funnier or sadder than others, irrespective of their meaning? I know a lot of people who find "oi" sounds gross, as in "moist" and "ointment." And I'm in agreement with Judson that "e" sounds are kind of funny — try saying "beekeeper" a bunch of times. But I'm not sure I can think of any words that evoke sorrow, except, with its low moan of an ending, "sorrow" itself.

A Language Of Smiles [NYT]

Bristol University researcher Steven Proud tracked boys in 16,000 English schools between 2002 and 2004. He found that boys got the best grades in English when "as few girls as possible" in their classes, and the more female classmates they had, the worse they did. On the flip side, both genders did better when there were more girls in science and math classes.

According to the Guardian, Proud explains his findings thus:

boys may do worse in English when there is a high proportion of girls in their class because they realise that the girls are better than them. It could also be that teachers use teaching styles more appropriate to girls when there are more girls than boys in the class. Both genders perform better in maths and science at primary school when there are more girls in the class because boys tend to disrupt the class more [...]

Though the Guardian's headline — "Girls make boys worse at English, says new study" — makes it sound a little like girls are slamming those readers shut in boys' faces, Proud's analysis actually makes boys look bad. Not only are they shrinking violets who can't stand girls outperforming them, but they also get in the way when girls try to learn math. Is it possible, though, that there are other gender stereotypes at work here? The idea that girls are better at English than boys is so entrenched that Proud mentions it pretty uncritically — perhaps boys feel that it's feminine to be verbally adept. And perhaps this effect is more pronounced when there are girls in the class for comparison. However, Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, added that the grade differences in the study were very small, and that "you can't say that it means boys or girls should be separated." Could it be that the variation within each gender is still much larger than the differences between, be it in English, math, or life? Nah, that's unpossible.

Girls Make Boys Worse At English, Says New Study [Guardian]

• German fashionisto: "She's is no runway model. Heidi Klum is simply too heavy and has too big a bust. And she always grins so stupidly. That is not avant-garde - that is commercial." Me-ow! [VogueUK]

• Kaiser Karl piles on: "I don't know Heidi Klum. She was never known in France. Claudia Schiffer also doesn't know who she is." This dismissal comes as Heidi helms the third season German Top Model. We're guessing Mrs. Seal is crying all the way to the bank. Maybe in a diamond-encrusted bra.[VogueUK]
• Stylist Patricia Field's advice to real-life Shopaholics? "Find a rich husband." Thanks, will do. Someone's been spending a little too much time with the Carrie Bradshaw crew...[Fabsugar]
• Photos of Rachel Roy's fall collection are up. The models in the presentation all wore black bobbed wigs and black lipstick — echoing Yves St. Laurent in Paris last September. The clothes were all white, with touches of gray, pale yellow and blue, and black. [WWD]
• Bluefly.com is upping its presence within the fictional worlds of fashion-related television and movies. Since the company noticed site traffic spiked during the episodes of Project Runway it sponsored, it set about buying ads within other media, too — most notably Gossip Girl (did you think it was an accident when Serena kissed Dan in Times Square and there was a Bluefly billboard behind them?) and Isla Fisher's Confessions Of A Shopaholic. [WSJ]
• If you heard a rumor that Thom Yorke was going to be playing the music for the Rag & Bone show today at 5 p.m., I am here to tell you it ain't so. But Yorke did act as a musical designer for the show — although that still doesn't mean he'll be present. [Men.Style.com]
• 25 garment workers who were required to work over 80 hours a week and only intermittently paid the princely sum of $3 an hour won their lawsuit against their former employers, New York's Liberty Apparel. Liberty had used subcontractors to attempt to shift blame. As competition for jobs in the garment sector worsens — in 2008, the jobs available shrank by 7% in New York City, and U.S. Bureau of Labor figures for January of 2009 showed 9,600 garment workers were laid off nationwide that month alone — working conditions are believed to worsen. [Crain's]
• British supe Lily Cole plays a model called Lettuce Leaf in the upcoming film Rage, a murder mystery set in the New York fashion world, which also stars Dame Judi Dench, Jude Law, Steve Buscemi, and Eddie Izzard. You can watch a clip, mostly in English, of Cole as Lettuce Leaf and hear her talk about modeling, blogs, and beauty while doing promo work at the Berlin Film Festival. "There's a big gulf often between appearance and, you know, the reality, like seeming and being," says Cole. "Fashion illustrates that quite clearly because you only ever see the exterior and you don't really know what's going on behind. But it's true of every human, some to more extent, some to lesser extent, that there's a difference between the truth of that person and their own internal struggles and difficulties and loves and joys, and how they present themselves to the rest of the world." Watch, if only for the moment when she suddenly takes off her wig during Lettuce Leaf's monologue. [Spiegel Online]
• Speaking of voyeurism, here's a bunch of pretty pictures of designers doing last-minute runway show stuff. It's supposed to be hectic, still looks glam. [WWD]
• Ikram Goldman, owner of the Chicago boutique Ikram and de facto stylist for a certain First Lady, is of course at New York fashion week. She refused to talk about anything Obama-related in this interview. [Paper]
• Not so tight-lipped is Benjamin Cho. The designer, who's not showing at fashion week this season, says he wishes Michelle Obama dressed more sophisticatedly. Her inauguration outfits "got a little cheesy." Cho thinks her style is too retro. "It would be nice if she wore like a Jil Sander shift dress. Or something interesting like that — more sophisticated." Can we talk about something else than Michelle Obama's clothes now? [The Cut]
• Kelly Cutrone always has an interesting take on powerful women! On Michelle Obama: "She's the first lady in the White House in 50 years who actually looks like she's getting fucked." Hm. That wasn't the kind of non-sartorial discussion I meant. [The Cut]
• Anna Sui apparently has a book deal with Chronicle. [Fashionista]
• Australian label Morrissey is going out of business. [News.com.au]
• The video that Halston put together instead of a show or presentation is now live at their website. It's undeniably beautiful — I love the part where the model kicks off her stilettos — but how are you supposed to get any idea of the clothes via grainy digital video? [Halston]
• Two pieces of statuary from Yves St. Laurent's art collection, which is to be auctioned at Christie's by his partner, Pierre Bergé, are believed to have been stolen by looting French troops in 1860 from Beijing's imperial Summer Palace. China wants the statues, originally part of a fountain representing the Chinese zodiac, repatriated, but the treaty that covers such claims states only things taken since 1970 have to be returned. A Hong Kong billionaire might bid on the statues and take them back to China. [Time]
• Here's a look at some of the more unusual highlights of St. Laurent and Bergé's eclectic collection. [WSJ]
• Ew. Scott Weiland, who in no way deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the late, great Yves, is debuting a men's line with L.A. label English Laundry. [WWD]
• Thank dog designers are taking the pulse of the times and scaling back on vulgar runway shows! To show her sensitivity to the zeitgest, Monique Lhuillier premiered her collection of ballgowns, "Modern Ballet Russes," at the Plaza, where guests quaffed champagne. [WSJ]
• Donna Karan, for her part, relieves her social conscience by giving out a truly ugly tee to all comers to Sunday's runway show. The tee has a bunch of worthy charities listed on the back (including Donna Karan's Urban Zen Foundation) and their contact info, should the fashionistas feel that receiving a free shirt is not doing their part. [WWD]
• We've been burned by Target's accessories collabs in the past, but listen up, kids: Erickson Beamon for Target, which hits this Sunday, looks outstanding. Glimpses show a lot of vintage costume jewelry-inspired statement pieces and one old lady chic pendant we'll fight you for. [Fabsugar]
• The new all-things-moddle web site Modelina (remember how they handed out those model "campaign buttons" during the election?) is not only up and running and spilling mannequin gossip, but has launched a pr stunt we can get behind: fashion-themed Necco conversation hearts! A "Kiss Karl" in clove would just about make our weekends, although we're not sure why. [Glam.com]
• Is this the end of an era? Abercrombie's 4th Quarter profits were down a whopping 68%! [AP]
• We'll believe it when we see it, but now they say the first American Top Shop will be opening in April.They've cried...um, "high-concept fast fashion?" one too many times! [WWD]

Often the only thing that saves an awards show from being a total bore (aside from the fashion) is the prospect that a celebrity will deliver a charming and/or emotional acceptance speech that will be added to the annual clip reel of the most memorable moments. From the opening gasps of Winslet's acceptance speech for her second Golden Globe on Sunday night, it was clear it was such a speech (video below). But, while it seems many American critics found Winslet's speech endearingly flustered, the British were mortified.

Winslet apologizied to the other nominees (and dared to forget Angelina Jolie's name), but according to The Independent, it's not her fellow actresses who need an apology. "Never mind sorry to Anne, Meryl, Kristin and oh God, who's the other one," says the review. "It's us, her loyal British fans, to whom she should apologise. We expect less of you, Kate, much less."

Reviews of the Golden Globes from the British press attacked Winslet for everything from playing up British stereotypes to possibly being inebriated. The review in The Independent said the speech would "make a corpse wince with embarrassment" and that it was unexpected of an actress, "whose irreproachably middle-class upbringing in Reading has always seemed to imbue her with a rather sensible outlook on life." According to The Guardian, the speech "raises the occasional wave of nausea, swiftly followed by a rush of hands to eyes in order to block out the spectacle." The reviewer said of Winslet's urging herself out loud to "gather," "It would be interesting to know if anyone has ever said this outside the Mitford family, since 1932." And The Times critique asked if her second emotional trip to the podium could have been the result of her "down[ing] some bubbly between her two awards."

With The Telegraph reporting that bookmakers say Winslet is an "absolute certainty" to win at least one Oscar following her Golden Globes success, should Winslet start penning her Academy Awards speech now, lest she make a career-ruining speech and further anger the Brits? Angelina Jolie may have come back from announcing during her 2000 Best Supporting Actress Awards speech, "I'm so in love with my brother right now!" However, while he was leaping around the stage after his 1996 win for Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr. probably didn't imagine he'd end up in Snow Dogs.

Winslet's first win for Best Supporting Actress for The Reader:

Winslet's second win for Best Actress for Revolutionary Road

Brian Viner: Get A Grip, Kate. You're Embarrassing Us [The Independent]
Winslet Joins The Cast Of Hollywood Howlers [The Times]
Gather! How To Accept An Award The Kate Winslet Way [The Guardian]
Kate Winslet Favourite To Follow Golden Globes With Oscar Win [The Telegraph]