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14 March 2012

"Vocal Fry" Creeping into US Speech Sorry to be a bit US-centric, but I find this really interesting.[More:]I have noticed this, but didn't realize it had a name. It's super freaking annoying, though.
Should be "Creeping into"...
posted by amro 14 March | 09:59
I read a spate of similar articles a few months ago and then as now, I'm surprised by the idea that this is something new in U.S. speech. Certainly it's a form of emphasis I've heard (and used) for decades to express ennui, annoyance, exhaustion, impatience, or just that general (often teenaged) sense of "I don't wannnnnnnna."

It's super freaking annoying, though.

Tee hee. That's exactly the kind of spoken phrase I'd expect to use vocal fry for emphasis.
posted by Elsa 14 March | 10:17
As the article says, it's the opposite in the UK, where the trend is for sentences to end on an 'up', like a question. I read somewhere that this can be dated back to when Australian soap operas (Neighbours, Home & Away) started to become really popular here, and the inflection is a feature of Australian speech.

It really annoys me, particularly as it's very common amongst the younger staff at work, and we work in an area where it's important to be very precise in our use of language. If someone says something that ends with the 'up' but isn't phrased as a question, I don't answer it as if it is a question.
posted by Senyar 14 March | 10:39
I hate "uptalking" too, Senyar... if someone keeps doing it to me, I'll ask them, "Are you asking me or telling me?" Sometimes making people aware of it will cause them to stop it.

(amro, I fixed the "into" in your post heading.)
posted by BoringPostcards 14 March | 11:32
The up note at the end use to be an affectation of young women.
posted by ethylene 14 March | 12:06
Is there a real life example online? I have no idea what this is.
posted by mullacc 14 March | 12:08
There's an example in the article that you can listen to.
posted by amro 14 March | 12:10
I wish the example used real conversation, though. I get what they're talking about when the sound when is low and long and vibrating, like in the example, but people are using this with real words, not just expressions of what sounds like exasperation?
posted by JanetLand 14 March | 12:16
The Vocal Fry Epidemic
posted by Ardiril 14 March | 12:51
... and for the pros.
posted by Ardiril 14 March | 13:08
Ah, thank you Ardiril -- that first video makes it quite clear. Reminds me a little of Valley Girl speak from the 80s.
posted by JanetLand 14 March | 14:06
Hard to say which is more annoying, High rising terminals or Vocal fry. Vocal fry is why I have never been into hardcore or thrash metal like in Ardiril's link. To me they all sound like 11 year old boys practising burping the alphabet. The weirdest thing for me was finding out that some people find Vocal fry sexy.
posted by arse_hat 14 March | 14:11
To me, vocal fry sounds like the anti-uptalk. I hear uptalk as "No offense, right? Because I'm sweet and unassuming?" whereas vocal fry is more "yeah I've seen it all and you can't put anything over on me."
posted by tangerine 14 March | 15:07
I hear uptalk as a consoling question of responsibility. Vocal fry seems more a conscious affectation than the insecure concern of uptalk.
posted by ethylene 14 March | 15:41
What I can't stand is the whistly s.
posted by brujita 14 March | 17:05
I find uptalking annoying, but vocal fry doesn't bother me.

I watched a show on HGTV and the male half of the couple who was 30-ish did vocal fry the whole time he was talking. His younger girl friend didn't use it at all. I thought it kind of fun to see it "in the wild" since there's been so much talk about it lately.
posted by deborah 14 March | 18:51
I read somewhere that this can be dated back to when Australian soap operas (Neighbours, Home & Away) started to become really pop

That started cropping up here in a big way maybe ten years ago, but we didn't have any clear place to trace it. Uptalking was rampant for a while. Thank goodness, only a few people do it now.

Now that I've listened to the clip, it just reminds me of stoner-speak.
posted by Miko 14 March | 22:42
I have a rising inflection (pretty standard in New Zealand) if I don't pay attention. I annoy myself when I hear it.
posted by gaspode 14 March | 22:53
It just occurred to me Alan Moore is the most vocally fried person on earth.
posted by The Whelk 15 March | 01:13
Someone I heard on the radio this morning was doing both simultaneously.
posted by tangerine 15 March | 17:07
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