...to find 'upspeak' intensely annoying?

[garliclover]

Because it makes young people sound, like, really unsure of themselves? And, like, really quite thick?

I find it particularly annoying and depressing that teenage girls are the worst culprits: it makes even intelligent young women sound shallow, and quite frankly, inarticulate.

The other depressing thing is that it seems to be infecting much younger children, and most worryingly, even older generations who should know better!

Rant over.

What do you have in mind to do about it then?

If I were you I'd chill - you simply can't change it and it will probably disappear as other fads have in the past.

I agree, but do it myself on occasions (e.g. talking with children, friends). No upspeak at work or when lecturing.

Rising intonation at the end of a sentence, such that everything comes over as a question. Part of the national accent here!

It is, I believe, an Australian thing which found favour here many many moons ago with the arrival of Neighbours etc. Leave the kids alone - they'll get bored of it sooner or later!

I can think of FAR more annoying things young people do/say.

Oh my friend (age 50) has suddenly started doing it She is mega insecure though and uses it when trying to make herself sound interesting. Shame really.

I don't intend to do anything about it, BatsUp, just fume quietly when I hear it (which, by the way, is ALL the time, so I don't think it's just a fad: it's here to stay!).

I dont like to hear it, I think it makes the person sound unconfident, although I dont find it especially gives the impression that the person is dim.

Mostly it makes me feel sorry for the person and wish that they could find a way to sound more self assured.

I have occasionally caught myself doing it a little in situations where I feel out of my depth, so I suspect it can be a stress induced thing sometimes.

I had an Aussie colleague who upspoke - I cured her by asking Yes, and what is your question?

One of my exes does this now that he lives in Australia. He's a forty year old consultant surgeon now, and it makes me snigger to think of the confidence he would inspire if he ever moved back here: "I think I might just cut a bit off here? At the end there? The sore bit?"

my sister does it and always has - thank god for mumsnet as i thought it was only me who was irritated by it

I changed the message on our business answering service 5 times before I was able to eliminate so called "upspeak".

We aussies can no more help our accent then you can.

Its called the AQI, Australian Questioning Intonation, also known as High Rising Terminal. Its not new either, being mentioned in the literature since the 1940's.

Maybe the children are picking it up from the influx of Aussie teachers in the UK.

At least 10 of my DD's teacher friends are in the UK and the same amount of DS's friends

This one time, on band camp...........YANBU

Its not only the Aussies who do it though its part of certain Cannadian accecents as well.

I do find it annoying but it is just part of the development of our national language and there is very little we can do about it. If we isolated our children from all contact with people from other places then these things would not happen.

MrsStephenFry, I remember ages ago your husband chose it when he went on the Room 101 show!
Actually I think it predates the 40s by quite a while. I was doing some research in an archive (about something else, as it happens), and found a contemporary reference to Pitt the Younger: his speeches in the House of Commons were described as being full of rising intonations... [geek emoticon]

He did. It has escaped and proliferated though!

I hate it too. Fine if you're Australian or Canadian but otherwise it sounds very affected to me.

I've also noticed people adding a 'no' to the end of a statement to turn it into a question, as in, 'This is very annoying, no?'

God, I don't know if I do this or not, I'm Aussie but I've been here nearly 14 years. Perhaps I dont! I probably do.

Just another thing to annoy people about me!

Sowwy.

Or shoud that be, sorry?

My four year old dd does this, it's annoying? And mistifying? I suppose she watches too much CBBC?

Also the massive overuse of 'like', eg, "It was like such and such". " Was it "such and such" or not?" I enquire, to the annoyance of DS.

Oh I agree - and thanking for informing me it's called 'upspeak'.

I always say 'You know when people make their words go up at the end like every statement is a question' which is really not as succint is it? (Oops, is that upspeak?) (No because it's a genuine question) (If a little rhetorical) (Can something be a 'little' rhetorical?)

I don't notice other people doing it so I must do it or it must sound natural enough to me. Arghrrr.