C.S. Lewis' phatic hiatus

"The cardinal difficulty," said MacPhee, "in collaboration between the sexes is that women speak a language without nouns. If two men are doing a bit of work, one will say to the other, 'Put this bowl inside the bigger bowl which you'll find on the top shelf of the green cupboard.' The female for this is, 'Put that in the other one in there.' And then if you ask them, 'in where?' they say, 'in there, of course.' There is consequently a phatic hiatus."

*That Hideous Strength* was published in 1945. I reading it more than 50 years ago, uncertain whether abridged or unabridged. I still recall enjoying the creepy thrills phatically generated in the reading.

In the excerpt quoted above C.S. Lewis (CSL) misuses the word 'phatic' which lexicologists ever since 1928 have insisted means communication not of information but only of feeling "revealing shared feelings or establishing an atmosphere of sociability rather than communicating ideas. ...feminine relationship chatter not masculine task instruction...

http://www.solcon.nl/arendsmilde/cslewis/reflections/index.htm