Act Two. Freedom Fries. - This American Life http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-a... - so basically being annoyed with vocal fry is associated with misogyny and age discrimination against young people?
Ken Morley,
WoH: Professor MOTHRA,
Laura Norvig,
Micah,
Stephen Mack,
Jenny H.,
Starmama,
John (bird whisperer),
and
Jennifer Dittrich
liked this
"A man wrote 'Listen, I know there's pressure to hire females, in particular young females just out of college. And besides, they're likely to work for less money. But do you have to choose the most irritating voices in the English-speaking world? I mean, are you forced to? Or maybe, as I imagine, NPR runs national contests looking for them.'"
- Victor Ganata
"There's now robust evidence that men do this too. And like a lot of the other coverage, The Today Show story pathologizes vocal fry. It says that it's some kind of problem instead of just the way that some people talk."
- Victor Ganata
"The Today Show story and other stories treat vocal fry as if it's a new phenomenon, on the rise, a fad, an epidemic. But as a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, Mark Lieberman, has pointed out, there is still no evidence of that, pro or con-- no evidence that it is more common now than it's always been."
- Victor Ganata
"What's striking in the dozens of emails about vocal fry that we've gotten here at our radio show is how vehement people are. These are some of the angriest emails we ever get."
- Victor Ganata
"They call these women's voices unbearable, excruciating, annoyingly adolescent, beyond annoying, difficult to pay attention, so severe as to cause discomfort, can't stand the pain, distractingly disgusting, could not get over how annoyed I was, I am so appalled, detracts from the credibility of the journalist, degrades the value of the reportage, it's a choice, very unprofessional."
- Victor Ganata
Is it really surprising, though? They're some of the easiest, safest targets for disdain.
- Jennifer Dittrich
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But I find the story of how the phenomenon of vocal fry got processed by the media as this terrible new affliction fascinating. And I'm always amused by how linguistic prescriptivism tends to go hand-in-hand with other regressive ideas.
- Victor Ganata
I don't have disdain for people who talk like that. I talk with several people who have the affect. I enjoy our conversations, I just find their voices extremely grating.
- Starmama
I'm listening to the audio because I keep forgetting what "vocal fry" is.
- MoTO Boychick Devil
To my ear Ira Glass has a touch of vocal fry.
- Corinne L
*shrug*... *files under America's criticism of "black sounding names"*
- MoTO Boychick Devil
I mean, sure, there are people with annoying voices, but it's fascinating that people will use that as a marker of education and professionalism (or the lack thereof).
- Victor Ganata
"Listeners have always complained about young women reporting on our show. They used to complain about reporters using the word like and about upspeak, which is when you put a question mark at the end of a sentence and talk like this. But we don't get many emails like that anymore. People who don't like listening to young women on the radio have moved on to vocal fry."
- Victor Ganata
see my previous comment.
- MoTO Boychick Devil
I found the Lindy West piece quite gripping. She rocks.
- MoTO Boychick Devil
Ira Glass: "Yeah. Have you noticed that I do it too?"
- Victor Ganata
Ha! I listened to the audio but wasn't paying close attention to what he was saying in that portion. His vocal fry doesn't seem to be at the ends of sentences, though, more like certain words trigger it.
- Corinne L
I couldn't even hear it in that piece. Found this video and now I can hear it https://www.youtube.com/watch...
- Laura Norvig