Just watched a charming Wikipedia promo video, showing some of the multinational good eggs who volunteer their efforts to keep it running. As one of the small contributors to Wiki's latest appeal, I salute their work.
But I also couldn't help noticing the stark contrast between the voice of the New Jersey woman and the voices of the other women from places like Poland, India, Italy, Russia, Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Iraq. All except Miss New Jersey had pleasant voices. The US young female, however, suffered from what's known as "vocal fry", although I keep calling it "vocal croak". It's a way for mostly young, deluded females to sound what they imagine to be sophisticated, worldly and / or businesslike. The result is aural torture.
I remember an earlier, also mainly young American female vocal trend: ending all sentences as if they were a question ? At least there the rationale was that the speaker was opening up the conversation and inviting a response from her interlocutor. Eg: "Where do you live ?" Answer: "London?" Meaning: "I live in London, do you know it, do you have any thoughts on it, do you want to have a fascinating conversation about London ?" Taken to an extreme by lemmings it was still an incredibly annoying - and much parodied - phenomenon ("Welcome aboard flight 101 ? This is your captain speaking ?"). But in comparison to vocal croak - sorry, vocal fry - it was a halcyon period of pure conversational bliss.
What is obvious (to me at least) about vocal fry is that the speaker / sufferer is tense and uptight, resulting in this distorted voice. They are trying so hard to be "in control" that they end up sounding a mess, like someone with stage fright. I want to say to them: Please, relax, it doesn't matter, nothing is really that important ! The more you relax, the better you will sound and the more confident you will feel. Enough with all this fakery !
PS: Just remembered another 1980s US creation: "Like". This was often coupled with what I call the present historic tense: "So, I'm walking down the street and I see her and I'm like, "No way !" And she's like "Yes way !" And I'm like "No way !" Etc. ad nauseam. At least when Little Britain created "Yeah but no but yeah etc." it was intended as comedy !
PPS - And to show that I'm an equal opportunity critic, here's another just-recalled rhetorical phenomenon: I'm pretty sure this one has a very Jewish-American origin, as in:
"Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?"
“How should they answer?” – Dear Abby
This trend first hit American business / political-speak and then washed ashore here in the UK. Example: "Do I think I I'm up to the task of answering my own rhetorical question ? Yes I do. Would I like to be able to answer your next question ? Yes I would. Is it possible that none of your questions will receive a satisfactory answer ? No, it is not."
To me, this kind of spiel is distinctly Jewish because it is A) more like an argument with yourself or a session on the psychoanalyst's couch; and B) it serves as a pre-emptive strike against your interlocutor / audience. You are anticipating criticism and attempting to bat it away even before it arrives !
Hearing this very "foreign" style emerging from British stiff upper lips was amusing. Especially so since, as with most US cultural imports, the Brits failed to see its Yiddishe roots, instead probably imagining it came straight from some business textbook.
But I also couldn't help noticing the stark contrast between the voice of the New Jersey woman and the voices of the other women from places like Poland, India, Italy, Russia, Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Iraq. All except Miss New Jersey had pleasant voices. The US young female, however, suffered from what's known as "vocal fry", although I keep calling it "vocal croak". It's a way for mostly young, deluded females to sound what they imagine to be sophisticated, worldly and / or businesslike. The result is aural torture.
I remember an earlier, also mainly young American female vocal trend: ending all sentences as if they were a question ? At least there the rationale was that the speaker was opening up the conversation and inviting a response from her interlocutor. Eg: "Where do you live ?" Answer: "London?" Meaning: "I live in London, do you know it, do you have any thoughts on it, do you want to have a fascinating conversation about London ?" Taken to an extreme by lemmings it was still an incredibly annoying - and much parodied - phenomenon ("Welcome aboard flight 101 ? This is your captain speaking ?"). But in comparison to vocal croak - sorry, vocal fry - it was a halcyon period of pure conversational bliss.
What is obvious (to me at least) about vocal fry is that the speaker / sufferer is tense and uptight, resulting in this distorted voice. They are trying so hard to be "in control" that they end up sounding a mess, like someone with stage fright. I want to say to them: Please, relax, it doesn't matter, nothing is really that important ! The more you relax, the better you will sound and the more confident you will feel. Enough with all this fakery !
PS: Just remembered another 1980s US creation: "Like". This was often coupled with what I call the present historic tense: "So, I'm walking down the street and I see her and I'm like, "No way !" And she's like "Yes way !" And I'm like "No way !" Etc. ad nauseam. At least when Little Britain created "Yeah but no but yeah etc." it was intended as comedy !
PPS - And to show that I'm an equal opportunity critic, here's another just-recalled rhetorical phenomenon: I'm pretty sure this one has a very Jewish-American origin, as in:
"Why do Jews always answer a question with a question?"
“How should they answer?” – Dear Abby
This trend first hit American business / political-speak and then washed ashore here in the UK. Example: "Do I think I I'm up to the task of answering my own rhetorical question ? Yes I do. Would I like to be able to answer your next question ? Yes I would. Is it possible that none of your questions will receive a satisfactory answer ? No, it is not."
To me, this kind of spiel is distinctly Jewish because it is A) more like an argument with yourself or a session on the psychoanalyst's couch; and B) it serves as a pre-emptive strike against your interlocutor / audience. You are anticipating criticism and attempting to bat it away even before it arrives !
Hearing this very "foreign" style emerging from British stiff upper lips was amusing. Especially so since, as with most US cultural imports, the Brits failed to see its Yiddishe roots, instead probably imagining it came straight from some business textbook.
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