Everybody goes 'Shriek!!!'

I can't scream.

I'm not even trying to lace this with innuendo, it's just a fact.

I have absolutely no capacity for working up a good scream.

At the very most, after a particularly scary movie and a friend jumping out at me in a dark corridor, I managed to work up a yelp before proceeding to beat the crap out of him.

But over the last few weeks, I've been treated to a variety of very loud shrieks and screams (I don't even want to know what caused them!) which made it seem like they could be summoned at a moment's notice and without any great effort thrown into them.

Spider = Shriek, Startled by random person = Loud shriek, Passing whim = Loud Scream (yes indeed, there is a tad bit of a difference between a shriek and a scream)... this has been my recent experience with some part of the female population.

It seems like an absolutely feminine thing to be able to do. After all, which good old entertainment movie (Hollywood or Bollywood, take your pick) does not have at least one damsel in distress who can truly exercise her lungs for all she's worth?!

Then again, when I consider the hearing loss that I've probably suffered from all the shrieking and screaming, I consider that I'm doing my part for the environment by keeping the noise pollution levels waaaaay down.

Perhaps I'll keep my yelp after all.