To have only just realised that 'Vocal Fry' is a thing?

[ChinkChink]

That is to say - I was aware of, and increasingly being irritated by, women using a pattern of speech where sentences trail off into husky or guttural tones at the end, as if they're too lazy to take a breath. It makes them sound docile.

Vocal Fry, as it has been dubbed, apparently started among z-listers in the US a few years ago.

One British TV character who uses it a lot is Debbie Dingle, which I realise isn't very helpful if you don't watch Emmerdale. I noticed it with a couple of the Love Island females this year - don't ask me which ones. They all meld into one in my head.

But what's driven me to post is that I've noticed one of my colleagues has started doing it. It's the vocal equivalent of twirling your hair and pretending to be thick when a bloke hoves into view.

So. Vocal Fry. Have you noticed? AIBU in allowing it to get on me tits?

Well...yes and no. Vocal fry is the way of using the vocal cords, rather than the speech itself. Vocal fry is also how people like Marilyn Manson or death metal singers create that sound for instance.
It’s been a ‘thing’ since time immemorial.

I dislike it too but as plenty of others have said, men do it as much as women do. There was a good episode of This American Life that had a segment responding to criticisms about it (as pretty much all their reporters are vocal- friers) called 'If You Have Nothing Nice To Say, SAY IT ALL IN CAPS').

I've noticed that people who do it, don't do it all the time - it depends on the situation. I've spent entirely too much time thinking about this but I think as a result it does bother me less than it used to.

Obviously speech is as much subject to fashion trends as anything else. Vocal fry might have replaced the Aussie Interrogative as a sentence ending.

It does seem to be a device for 'softening' or de-impacting the content of speech, or perhaps indicating to the person you're talking to that they might wish to interject.

I'm sure I use it when I want to say something 'under my breath', like a cross through

@Ginazon that is an EXCELLENT article.

In general the Aussie upward inflection seems to be in decline, with one sad exception: the number of Aussie women I know who have authority and clout, speak normally one-to-one, with the sentence ending in a lower register, a declarative tone.

The minute they're addressing an audience, the voice goes up to squeak level and the upward inflection asserts itself. It really does project an air of uncertainty, undermining the seriousness of what they're saying. Can't think of a man who does it.

Just a drawl. And?

THANK you @ginazon ❤️

It's so so interesting that there are always people ready to step up to bash things typically associated with young women, especially young, working class women.

Vocal fry. Ugg boots. Eyebrows. Emma Thomson saying how people should stop saying 'like' all the time. Starbucks. Twilight. Unicorn stuff.

It's almost as though people just hate young women.

No, I criticise men too, these people always shout, but I bet if they decided to take a day off from criticising stuff associated with young women, they'd quickly discover that actually most stuff they say critically is indeed against young women.

And there's not the level of dripping condemnation. UGGGGGH Twilight is such uuuuutter shit, ohhhhhh people with their fluffy Starbucks drinks sooooo pathetic.

I don't use vocal fry (I don't even know how to make my voice do that) but I drank a Toffee Nut Latte this morning, say 'like' every second word and I LIKE unicorns.

People need to stop criticising every little thing groups of people do because there is probably some shit you do that people think is pathetic or gross or stupid.

Noam Chomsky does it. But he's an older man so it's fine.

DH is always listening to tech podcasts and the guys presenting them always have shitloads of vocal fry.

@Hisaishi could not agree with you more 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

Fascinating.

I thought it was mostly an American thing, not limited to women

I also really loathe the shtupid in stead of stupid sound, it seems to have started with the use of chube for tube.

Sorry to derail but this ^^ - I was watching something on TV last night and had to grit my teeth every time the person said shchewdents. Bleurgh!!!

It’s very interesting! I had never heard of this terminology and to be honest I don’t think I had ever really noticed it! I just thought it was an American accent.
I can’t see how it makes people look stupid though, the only examples I came across were of people saying, well, stupid things! I’m not sure how they said them made much of a difference...

This article is very interesting on women’s language.

debuk.wordpress.com/2015/07/05/just-dont-do-it/

I've just seen William Hague on tele - his entire delivery is vocal fry!!

I've noticed a lot of slurring of the s' in songs of late which give it a "pished" (ugh) sound, one example (sorry don't know artist):
"I'm jealoush, I'm overzealoush...." yet rest of pronunciation in song doesn't seem to have same form.