Vocal fry and Valley speak

HALLIE EPHRON: Way back in the 70s, there was much sturm und drang about how teenagers were ruining the English language with Valley Speak. This was the way so-called Valley Girls (as in from San Fernando, southern California) spoke, and It was about uptalk--inflecting statements upward at the end as if they were questions. ("My name is Hallie?") And adding meaningless placeholder words like "like," and "you know," and "we should, like totally..." Whatever.

Think of the movies "Clueless" and "Legally Blonde."
Valley Speak is far from gone -- as recently as 2014 the BBC was bemoaning "the unstoppable march of upward inflection."

But supplanting it is the same kind of hand-wringing about something called vocal fry. Apparently this involves speaking in a gratingly low register, something perfected by Kim Kardashian. Reading about this sent me scurrying to the Internet because (I know, this is hard to believe) I've never heard Kim K actually talk.

If you're curious, watch this.

So have you heard of vocal fry? Seriously, do people talk like this? Because it sounds pretty grody to me. I mean, seriously, like can you even understand a word she's saying?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I am very familiar with this. I LOATHE this. Yes, people talk like this,. It is... excruciating.  (That video is ridiculously edited, so Kim K is not saying full sentences.)   And in real life, you can understand it perfectly. Often, even announcers on NPR speak this way.

I think it is supposed to sound sexy and cool.  But, again, it is excruciating.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I had no idea until I started playing YouTube videos! It's horrible!!!! (How many exclamation marks am I allowed?) And now that I've heard it, I know I'm going to notice it everywhere. (Thanks, Hallie...)

Why would women want to sound like they've had throat surgery? It is so NOT sexy, and not smart or sophisticated. Voice teachers everywhere must be cringing.

JENN McKINLAY: I couldn't see Kim K (I've never heard her speak, either) on YouTube but the next video popped right up  and the young woman really breaks it down, pointing out that vocal fry makes you sound like a frog. Ribbit. I can't imagine any conversation where I'd want to sound like a frog, but I admit I was most def a Valley Speaker back in high school, like, you know? Gag me with a spoon, I know. And now I'm torn as to which is more annoying upspeak or frying. Hmm.

RHYS BOWEN: Add me to the list who have never heard Kim or any Kardashian speak (and never wants to either! I'm horrified how supposedly educated, influential people have all adopted former Valley Girl inflections and meaningless filler like "Y'know" . I've just listened to the You Tube. All I can say is "OMG. Like Totally Disgusting!"

INGRID THOFT: This is horrible.  I avoid all things Kardashian, but I took one for the team and watched some YouTube videos demonstrating vocal fry.  I think I find the uptalk phenomenon even more annoying because it makes the speaker sound so dumb.  Also, I just saw this week in an "Ask Amy" column that vocal fry can damage your vocal cords.  Does that mean the Kardashians may eventually go quiet? 

HALLIE: Oh my, we can only hope. That would be the silver lining.

And it turns out that it's not just women who fry. TIME reported in November: "Women aren’t the only ones who use vocal fry. In a forthcoming study of 18- to 22-year-olds, researchers at Centenary College of Louisiana found that young men not only fry, but they do so more than young women. 'Our data showed that men spend about 25% of their time speaking using fry, while women use it about 10% of the time,' says Jessica Alexander, an assistant professor of psychology at the college."

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I don't know about "vocal fry," but as the mother of a 17-year-old, I can tell you the upward inflection, the everything-is-a-question, and peppering paragraphs with "like" and "you know" are alive and well and living at your local high school.

The thing I can't understand is...where does it go? I don't hear adults talking like that. My mother made sure I lost those annoying verbal tics by answering, 

"No, I don't know,"

Every. Time. I. Said, "You know?"

That will clear your language up real fast, but she can't be doing that for EVERY American teen.

HALLIE: Yes, the eternal question: Where is Julia's mother when we need her?!

So I confess I wasn't aware of "vocal fry" until I read Ask Amy last week in the Washington Post. Now I hear it everywhere.
I've even tried to fry but I. Can. Not.


Are you noticing it now? (Sorry.)

Reality Shows invading our language

JAN BROGAN - I had bought a winter jacket on line from one of those discount design houses and I was debating whether to keep it or not. My sister-in-law loved it, my daughter wasn't too sure. She had asked me to take a picture of myself in it and send it to her. Which I did. Her reply, also by text was along the lines of: "Go with your gut.: She added, "it looks like it could be a bit Kardashian-y."

I have never once watched the Kardashians on television, but I knew exactly what she meant. Expensive-looking for the sake of being expensive. A bit over the top. Maybe not appropriate to function. How did I know this? This is the mind boggling part. From the one or two times I've seen Kim Kardashian on the cover of a People Magazine at the allergists? From the one or two times I've flipped through TV stations and caught her image on Entertainment Weekly? It's not that I'm above reading about a celebrity in People, or watching a segment or two on Entertainment Weekly, total sucker for anything Jennifer Aniston, but because I never watch the Kardashian show, I don't ever read the Kardashian news or watch a segment on celebrity TV)keep flipping . So we are talking about very momentary images here.

So I'm wondering, has anyone else experienced new vocabulary, new thoughts or new awareness of reality shows without actually watching them? (THINK of your internal review of Steve Tyler singing the anthem at the Patriots/Ravens playoff game?)

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Sad but true. Every time I see a long-haired brunette who looks a little trashy I think - Kardashian! (including myself) As if it's a species. I've even got my husband saying it now. I've never seen the show either. I think for a while I said "Is that your final answer?" without ever having watched whatever show that came from. These things sneak into the lexicon (and our brains apparently) when we're not looking.

And it isn't that I'm too highbrow either...sitting around enjoying high tea and waiting for the next episode of Downton Abbey. I'm a sucker for Lucky and InStyle, two magazines devoted to hard-hitting journalism. Like the recent issue which compared the Kardashians' closets.(One of them has more Birkin bags than the other.)

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, yes, it's like a disease, isn't it? I've never seen the Kardashians either, but would immediately have gotten the reference. And the tongue-in-cheek Kardashian clone on last week's Castle. My husband is always saying, "How did you know about that?" when he reads about the latest gossipy thing on Facebook. Obviously he doesn't do the grocery shopping! He has, however, started reading Entertainment Weekly magazine (which for some reason we get free,) so he is suddenly au courant. Too funny.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Ro, you're the CLASSY brunette, not the trashy one. Yes, I'm all too aware of the current reality shows, mostly because (Bad Mother alert) my 11 year old daughter reads ALL those gossip magazines. It's like she's the reincarnation of Hedda Hopper. When we're standing in line at the grocery and I'm staring blankly at pictures of people I don't know, she explains which one is a Teen Mom and which one is a Bachelorette. (Why isn't that show called The Spinster?) I'm aware you can watch people getting hatched, matched, and perhaps even dispatched on television today (if you count getting fried from THE APPRENTICE.) My personal opinion? It's the end of civilization as we know it.

Except for PAWN STARS! I love PAWN STARS.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Except for PROJECT RUNWAY, right? I truly love that. ANd you know, "Make it work." I was a huge fan of--oh,gosh, I'm telling you this--Survivor, when it first came out. I had a huge blow-up with an acquaintance over it--apparently my fascination with it indicated to him that I was incredibly shallow and not worth talking to. I am not exaggerating.

And even Jonathan says--"You really made it your own." And if you know where THAT comes from...

But it's a bit scary. The guy who's the Harvard Hasty Pudding choice? NO IDEA who he is. SO many people, I have NO IDEA. AND this is what I used to sneer at my mother about.

JAN - Oh Hank, does that mean you did NOT see The new Muppet Movie? Jason Segel (that's the actor getting the Hasty Pudding award) was awesome and I think he even wrote it - which makes him my new favorite hero because I'm a total sucker for the Muppets and even if I wasn't it was a totally uplifting movie, which unlike the reality shows, which as Julia points out,, are bringing down the culture, Jason and the Muppet movie are actually elevating it. But I suppose that's another blog.

RHYS BOWEN: Amen to Project Runway. I confess to having used "The tribe has spoken." I have enjoyed Survivor in the past, but now it's just silly little games. Why not TRUE SURVIVOR? Put people with no food on an island alone (with a few Komodo Dragons, poisonous snakes, sharks in the water) and see how many survive? We might even get a good Lord of the Flies situation which would raise the ratings.

Actually my daughter who is an industry insider says that all reality shows are scripted. They cut and paste dialog mercilessly so that they get drama and the outcome they want. I've never watched any Kardashians. Hate the whole concept of the Bachelor/Bachelorette... and the fact that you'd want to marry any man who is making out with different women every week.

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm sure I'm dating myself here, but whenever I see a long haired brunette who looks a little trashy I think Tiny Tim.

The only reality (ha ha) show I watch is Project Runway ("One day you're in, and the next day you're out.") Totally hooked. I'd be in the Tim Gunn fan club if I knew how to join. And I do occasionally want to "vote" someone "off the island" even though I've never seen whatever show that comes from.

JAN: I think I'm the only one on JR who is NOT a Project Runway fan, so I know nothing about the language there. How about everyone else? What reality show vocabulary has invaded your language? Or made itself into a handy adjective?