According to Bob Garfield, host of NPR’s On The Media, young people’s (especially young women’s) speech patterns are becoming “really annoying.” On a recent podcast, Garfield described the sound as “a door creaking or a hinge that needs oiling” and he begged for it to come to an end:
“I want the oil to stop frying. I want someone to wave a magic wand over a significant portion of the American public and have the frying come to an end.”
Unbeknownst to me, this speech pattern epidemic has a name. Vocal fry. I’ve included a video about it by YouTube user AbbynormalOne so you can get an audio sample. It’s kind of like the modern-day, more gravelly, Valley Girl lilt. And although she’s not solely responsible for it, you can thank people like Britney Spears for making vocal fry popular. Think: “It’s Britney, bitch!” Keep reading »
