I hate the way young women speak

What's the age cut-off?

Age cut-off is 30.

Vocal fry with upspeak. It makes them sound dumb as a box of rocks.

Related - anyone who uses the word 'literally' is generally an idiot.

Earliest millennial is now 42 or 43, so that's my idea of the cutoff point.

Yeah, 40

As with most heinous things, we can put the blame on one family.

Howard on vocal fry.

just get over it. the way that people speak is a function of their environment, they aren't hatching a plot to irritate you and it isn't evidence that they are stupid either.

You mean American women, right? I cannot stand the California accent on younger women. The upspeak and vocal fry is insanely annoying and trashy.

r9 Uses "literally" every other word and speaks with vocal fry - irritating all those around him.

R11 No I don't. I'm right and you don't have an argument, you're just obsessed with your little pet peeve. Fuck you.

Young women on NPR usually sound annoying. Like they all suffer from anhedonia. And that nervous chuckle when they are not sure whether humor is appropriate given the gravity of the situation…

This is because your "interaction" with young women is through social media. In real life, they don't speak that way. Your social media habits color your perception of reality. A gullible person like yourself probably needs to stay off the Internet altogether.

It's a known phenomenon that all the new speech affections are driven by, young white women, why we still can't find an answer, it's obvious some social thing. This was happening even before the Internet.

Get defensive all you want but vocal fry and upspeak are irritating and make the people doing it sound stupid. I just turned off a documentary last night? because the young female reporter doing the sound bites had an interesting story? and was probably very intelligent? but was so obnoxious with the vocal fry and upspeak she ended up sounding like an airhead? For real? It’s not just on social media but also in professional settings.

A million WW's for r17, were they mine to givvvvvvvvvve????

r14, there is a young woman who sounds very, "urban"- she has gotten better, but it still irks me.

R17, maybe they're all from Minnesota, ya know?

R9 is like literally making me have a panic attack! i like can’t even right now! i’m like so over it!

I've noticed a lot of Millennials and Gen Zers (of all genders), when ordering at a counter, will say "Can I have a ---?"

I don't know, can you have it? Why do they have to ask the barista for permission? Just tell them your order.

The vocal fry and upspeak adds to the irritation.

When I encounter a group of 3 or more younger women, they all seem to talk at the same time. It’s always a cacophony akin to a crying toddler in a restaurant or a theater of any kind. I’m glad they are enjoying themselves, away from the drudgery where they must be forced to be mute for hours!

The nasal tone is the worst.

R23 go out to one of the local young hotspots (bar or restaurant) on a Friday night and it’s like a symphony of vocal fry. I’ve heard what you’re talking about, it’s like they’re all speaking at once but NOT processing the information that the other ones are saying, they seem so narcissistic like they really just care about talking to get their own thoughts out with no need to intake anyone else’s. Truly a horrible generation.

Redundant use of the word “like” and prefacing a statement with the phrase “I don’t know” really bug me. It’s not just women that do it either.

“I knooowwww, right?”

It's like the Meowing Nuns and the trans craze which affects mostly young women. Women like to imitate other women. But that's because we're all robots so it makes sense.

R3 Because maybe they ARE as dumb as a box of rocks?

I think a lot of the young girls sound nasal as well. They talk as if they want to give the impression they are little girls, I think they copy each other and to me it seems they are all under the impression they sound cute maybe. I've always admired the way Gene Tierney spoke in Laura.

It has something to do with wanting to remain immature. The cute little girl dividend.

r10 I notice young French women are speaking with this weird Lilo and Stitch voice. Other than that, foreign women are a relief.

It's been downhill ever since CBS cancelled "What's My Line?".

R12 is a tad sensitive after recognizing her own vocal fry

R10 R31 I am in Germany a lot and young women there have their own version of this! It's horrible. So often one of these girls will be talking NON STOP while her friend(s) are just sitting there having to absorb all of it.

As Seacrest gave us The Kardashians who in turn amplified and influenced a generation with their vocal fry, I think it's all Seacrest and PMK's fault.

The Kardashians have really dumbed this country down the past couple decades.

I always thought the vocal fry was women trying to be sexy sounding bedroomy and tired and like they just came up for a nightcap after clubbing all night.

Upspeak, vocal fry, all of it drives me nuts. If it’s coming from a thirteen-year-old, I can deal. But like another poster said, it’s become commonplace on NPR. Don’t they hear how they sound? Aren’t they embarrassed?

I’m a huge fan of alternative radio. Listening to Columbia University’s station right now. DJ is guilty of all of the aforementioned vocal monstrosities.

But worse, she was talking about a record she played…

“It was released posthumously.”

She pronounced that pōst / HYOU / miss / ly!!!

Worse, she THEN said…

“I never know how to pronounce that word.”

So she KNEW she didn’t know the pronunciation but couldn’t be arsed to check.

Our nation’s finest young minds, indeed.

This a perfect example of vocal fry.

Tow-ta-lee

And what’s with the way young women are pronouncing THANK YOU as THINK KYA.

[quote]Young women on NPR usually sound annoying.

"Hey, we're going to like talk to Robin DiAngelo right now. She's a white woman who's getting, like, fifty thousand bucks a pop to, like, talk to corporations about how, like, all of their white employees are evil."

I hate the way gay men speak. They wish they could sound like young women.

I didn't realize it's been an issue for so long? Here is Connie Chung blowing the lid off the story? Way back in 1994!?

Connie, you old sarcastic bitch, uptalking at the end. I love it, you should be an honorary DLer.

Does Chef John (Food Wishes) suffer from this vocal impairment? DL please analyze his vocal style and share your findings.

R29, beautiful clip of Tierney--not only was her voice lovely in its smooth, lower register, but her whole demeanor--the way she carried herself, the self-control in her manner--all so worthy of admiration. Can you imagine any young woman like that in this day and age? And she was only in her early 20s at the time!

Vocal fry and upspeak are two different affectations, and it seems to me that they rarely if ever go together, because it's difficult to maintain that fry in your voice when you're upspeaking.

R46, I'm not hearing any vocal fry, upspeak, or any other problem in his voice. And I'm hypersensitive to voices. That's a nice, unaffected voice to my ear.

R46, I would say that chef has something of a sing-songy voice and speech pattern, which is not unpleasant to me, but some people might find it annoying.

Many women use both upspeak and vocal fry. Of the two, vocal fry is the more annoying. It gives me an uncomfortable feeling because I imagine the speaker is running of oxygen.

I’m not surprised by the Connie Chung report. Upspeak is several decades old and was a feature of Valley Girl speak.

I suppose people being born now won’t be irritated by either affects to. because it will be the normal way of speaking, but I don’t think I will ever get used to it.

Schools used to train these kinds of affectation out of their students, but I imagine that practice is too soul-crushing, anti-woman, etc. for these times.

People, I give to you, the empress of all things vocal fry and upspeak......Christina!

Whitney Rose on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City does this thing where she pronounces "feelings" like "fellings". She also speaks in a high pitched, little girl voice (which Mary Cosby has pointed out).

I don't know if this is a regional thing? Anyone from Salt Lake care to weigh in?

I stumbled over this video by chance a few weeks ago, but I thought it was interesting. He makes some very good points.

The problem is not vocal fry, it's the sound symbolism of vocal fry, especially in relation to women speakers. Nobody bats an eye about men using vocal fry.

I predict that it will be the normal way of speaking in the future, but it might go the way of the whispery voices of the 50s and 60s (e.g., Jacqueline Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe).

r54 I've known some stoner guys that spoke with extreme vocal fry. It was pretty annoying.

R47 I couldn’t put it better.

THAN-keyoo.

It bothers me so much, why is it considered cool?

Like why is this like a you know problem?

Australians always sound like they're asking a question. Makes them sound less confident and sometimes I find myself not paying attention to what they're saying because I find this speech-habit distracting.

Lots of Borderline Incest Survivor types do the trifecta to the extreme. The baby voice - upspeak - vocal fry trio. The baby voice is supposed to be pacifying to men, the upspeak has a passive-aggressive nature to it that signals the person is alert and on, the vocal fry deepens a woman’s voice making it froggy and more masculine to make her seem intimidating. Women who are nuts do it to keep others off kilter. “I’m a sewxy widdle girl! but I’m also a lionesssss!” vibe. Some people have affected it from simply hearing it, but others that go super deep into it are usually severely mentally disturbed, potentially psychopathic.

80%, you say?

Where did you get that figure?

I observe these horrors in 100% of women under 40, even 45 years old, and about 50% of men under 40, mainly the upspeak.

The very smart lawyer Ben Meiseles on The Meidas Touch Network Youtube channel has a combo of the most appalling speech habits and patterns I've ever heard. Plus, by his speech I can tell he is from Eastern Queens/Nassau County, so add in all the annoying weird New Yorkisms found here. I often stop listening because his terrible speech is so aggravating. His upspeak, especially when reading a document is brutal.

He and both of his brothers all say "be-KOSS" instead of "because" (a very Jewish thing), "foe-werd" instead of "foreword" and ALL words with "str" are pronounced "schtr", so "district" is "dischtrict" and "strong" is "schtrong". Like many people he substitutes "bolth" for "both". Ayyyiiieeee!

In addition to vocal fry, I also can’t stand current newsreader voices. The over-enunciation of everything in a high pitched little girl voice is like nails on a blackboard.

R65 it’s everywhere: documentaries, news, YouTube. I’ve turned off Dateline and some documentaries because it was so bad

R62 Sounds like Britney.

Idiots who use vocal fry (and it's not just women) think it makes them sound more powerful and impressive. They couldn't be more wrong.

Vocal fry, upspeak and baby talk are all horrible. But you know what's worse? A group of young women at a bottomless brunch. That's when high decibel shrieking is added to the mix and it is ear-splitting. It has a performative quality, as if all must know what a great time they are having.

Thanks for that clip, R61. I'd never heard of that comedian before, but he's very funny.

Agreed, R69. And of course, that doesn't only apply to bottomless brunch. I was recently at a Mexican restaurant in early evening during happy hour, and there was a table of shrieking women near me. Incredibly annoying, and yes, it does seem very performative.

This reminds me of the “WOOO Girls” episode on How I met Your Mother.

R62 some very interesting points.

Ivanka Trump's Jan. 6th testimony tapes are some of the most lethal vocal fry I've heard in my life!

I can't help but hold my S's sssss

I swear it’s an incest survivor thing. These straight men need to leave their daughters alone.

Just as " journalism" seems to no longer require grammar classes, so too do the countless cable and online programs no longer require voice and diction classes for their reporters and hosts. With society shifting to putting young women in every outlet ( they are less expensive), the result is this assault on the ears.

aren't you a sour old thing, OP