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.)