Support NeoGAF

[Two Words]

For those unfamiliar with vocal fry or uptalk, here's a couple of example videos.

Vocal Fry- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEqVgtLQ7qM

Uptalking- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQWej-hMiZI


I've kind of silently judged people for talking this way most of my life. If somebody comes up to me with either of these tones, it kind of leaves a bad first impression. Though I'm kind of wondering if that's really fair. No doubt about it, the tone of voice really annoys me. I can't help that the tone elicits a strong negative response out of me. But in hindsight, is that really their problem? I talk the way I talk due to a lot of external factors. The languages I grew up around, the people I listened to and conversed with, etc. There isn't a lot that I explicitly chose that factor into the way I talk today. And it's not like you really gather a lot of information about somebody from the tone of their voice. At most, you can be certain that you find their voice annoying. But I'm not really sure if vocal cadence is something that one can simply say "This is a part of me and how I am. I can't help it and you can't hold it against me."

How do you find yourself reacting to these tones of voice? Do you judge people for it?


Edit:

I especially worry about this because its simply a fact that vocal fry and uptalking is more common among women. I don't know why, but has definitely caught on more among women. So it seems unfair to have a silly characteristic determine so much about a person. I have heard people say that vocal fry is growing in popularity among women because it makes their voice sound deeper and less child-like. Which might seem more fitting in an adult-environment.

 

[BronsonLee]

Now that I know what they are, I certainly will judge em!

 

[Mercury Fred]

Nope.

 

[backflip10019]

I've never heard someone who I've genuinely thought was intelligent talk with vocal fry. So, no, it's not wrong to judge people who do this.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Did I just see a vagina?

 

[SystemBug]

I have seen somebody develop a vocal fry.

like why

 

[TharpDaddy]

It's just their voice. People speak how they speak. Doesn't bother me or lead me to draw conclusions about them.

 

[Two Words]

I've never heard someone who I've genuinely thought was intelligent talk with vocal fry. So, no, it's not wrong to judge people who do this.

I've met plenty of smart people that talk with a vocal fry. I don't think the two are linked at all.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

I've never heard someone who I've genuinely thought was intelligent talk with vocal fry. So, no, it's not wrong to judge people who do this.

It's not politically correct to say, but THIS.

Everyone (male or female) I've met who spoke this way was a vapid moron.

 

[John Kowalski]

Yes it's wrong.

 

[Reverend Funk]

Did I just see a vagina?

what does that have to do with this thread?

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Did I just see a vagina?

A mouth vagina.

 

[olympia]

uptalking seems involuntary and vocal fry seems to be primarily used by women, so i don't really see why i should judge someone over it

 

[Rayis]

Yes, do you even need to ask?

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

i thought vocal fry was what you sound like when you smoke 4 packs a day for 30 years

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Combine vocal fry with your diaphragm and you get typical metalcore screams. I'll get around to learning how to do that one day, since I like it with some chugging guitars in the background.

 

[God Dayumm]

It's not wrong. Anyone who speaks to you with a vocal fry is already judgemental, so return the favor

 

[IdreamofHIME]

A mouth vagina.

Now what i saw daddy doing to mommy makes sense.

 

[Kieli]

so that's what a vocal fry is...

now i'll never be able to unhear it. thx OP... =.=

 

[umop_3pisdn]

Alaska Thunderfuck (a drag queen) speaks with tons of vocal fry and is awesome.

But in general I don't think it's wrong, elocution is one of the first ways we socially categorize people, it seems too intuitive to judge people with poor grammar as probably not being that smart, for example. It's unrealistic to make a deliberate effort not to categorize everyone/regard everyone as an individual, we're programmed to use heuristics and stereotypes as a sort of automatic information processing. But I think it's a good compromise to not be too rigid in your judgement and be willing to think differently of them at least.

 

[Zoe]

I know several intelligent women with vocal fry, so yeah, it's pretty judgemental.

 

[TickleMeElbow]

I know a guy who talks like that, but he's always high on painkillers so I think that's why.

 

[NervousXtian]

I mean on the list of shit that bother me about people, this is pretty low on the totem pole.

 

[Aselith]

A mouth vagina.

The best kind!

 

[cwmartin]

I know several intelligent women with vocal fry, so yeah, it's pretty judgemental.

But, like, how do you KNOW, like, that they are like, smart and stuff?

 

[chaobreaker]

Vocal fry hate is irrational. No one is doing it intentionally to annoy people. It's just how words come out of their mouth.


This American Life covered this in an episode last year. They broke down and dispelled some myths associated with vocal fry.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

I don't see what's wrong with not liking it. It's annoying. It doesn't really matter if the person can help it or not, either way it's unpleasant to listen to.

 

[chromatic9]

The vocal fry is quite noticeable for me even with those Americans who think they don't do it, certain words and sentences they can't help but slip into it, Light vocal fry seem part of the general accent which sounds okay

Wish I could link to an advert on youtube doing the rounds which features a women with almost every word descending into some deep growl, even with simple introduction of "Hi". It was so extreme I found myself trying to imitate for curiosity and laughs in how you even begin to talk like that.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Some say it is sexist to find vocal fry annoying.

I wonder if those people also stick up for Pauly Shore.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Yes, try not to let petty shit like that bother you.

It's like British people looking down on other brits for not using received pronunciation, petty as fuck.

 

[Hopeford]

Personally, as someone with an accent I'm rather self-conscious of, I don't really enjoy the idea of judging people by the way they speak.

I mean finding them annoying is perfectly fair game though. It's normal to be annoyed by pretty much anything - I think that 'judging' would be making assumptions about their personality based on this one aspect of them.

 

[Apt101]

Chef John from Food Wishes has insane uptalk. https://www.youtube.com/user/foodwishes

 

[Social]

Judge them, judge them hard.

 

[Darksol]

Vocal fry isn't genetic, so I don't see why not. I think it's annoying as hell, but whatever. Live and let live.

Uptalk annoys me less than vocal fry, but I must admit it's pretty odd to make everything sound like a question.

 

[Social]

Chef John from Food Wishes has insane uptalk. https://www.youtube.com/user/foodwishes

And oh boy, you were not wrong, just that intro video alone:
https://youtu.be/Yua_BNweXgk

 

[NoblesseOblige]

This really isn't a question of right or wrong. You may judge people for whatever petty reason you decide. Personally I don't judge someone solely based on it. But if the words accompanying the fry are stupid, then yeah I will judge them.

 

[ThisGuy]

vocal fry = sexy

I do up talk when im joking around tho

 

[z3phon]

I won't judge someone based on how they speak, If I'd have to judge them it would be based on what they say.

 

[Mr Git]

There's quite a lot of studies into voice quality and social identity - particularly re: creaky voice (which is the linguistic term, not vocal fry) and young American women. It's an extremely productive sociolinguistic feature. It's one of many, but this one doesn't annoy me at all. Rising inflection is confusing though, as it's ingrained into English for the purpose of asking a question.

 

[Coreda]

Yes it's wrong?

One small edit.

I have seen somebody develop a vocal fry.

like why

I seem to remember an article are that showed some who use vocal fry are using it to position themselves as more authoritative in certain industries as lower pitched voices are associated with men. Though other studies have shown people are turned off by it. From what I've read it damages the vocal cords.

 

[i_am_ben]

Australians naturally do uptalk at the end of their sentences

 

[mhayes86]

I'm not quite sure if I have ever heard someone uptalk in person, but if that video in the OP was anything to go by, I think it would get very distracting once you noticed it. For instance, when you notice someone saying "um" and "like" repeatedly when they talk, you can't stop hearing it. Vocal fry on the other hand, I wouldn't judge the person, but I'll admit that it is a bit annoying and grating to hear.

 

[Tubobutts]

I'm from the valley that gave valley girls the name so yes I do think it is okay to judge them.

 

[Jarrod38]

I end all my sentences with exclamation point!

 

[noquarter]

There was a contestant on Jeopardy last year or earlier this year who spoke like that. I really couldn't stand it. Looking into what others thought of her (yes, it was a women, edit: looked it up, it was Laura Ashby, think she won twice) revealed that it usually is females that have this vocal tendency and the few forums I found had people in the calling the ones who didn't like her speech sexist because of it.

Personally it annoys me and I would try not to speak with someone that speaks with a vocal fry. I don't think I would really judge someone immediately, but it would probably be harder for someone with a vocal fry to get to know me since I would limit interactions with them due to it.

 

[Bad Trip]

Does Future have vocal fry? Cause my normal speaking voice is pretty similar to his .

 

[jett]

There was a contestant on Jeopardy last year or earlier this year who spoke like that. I really couldn't stand it. Looking into what others thought of her (yes, it was a women, edit: looked it up, it was Laura Ashby, think she won twice) revealed that it usually is females that have this vocal tendency and the few forums I found had people in the calling the ones who didn't like her speech sexist because of it.

Personally it annoys me and I would try not to speak with someone that speaks with a vocal fry. I don't think I would really judge someone immediately, but it would probably be harder for someone with a vocal fry to get to know me since I would limit interactions with them due to it.

holy shit why

 

[liliththepale]

If it's wrong then I don't want to be right. Valley girl speech is my favorite way of communicating.

 

[DJ_Lae]

Both annoying, although they don't drive me too crazy.

Vocal fry always reminds me of the Castle of Aughhhhhh.

 

[Coreda]

Looking into what others thought of her (yes, it was a women) revealed that it usually is females that have this vocal tendency and the few forums I found had people in the calling the ones who didn't like her speech sexist because of it.

Sounds typical. There was a study written about in the Washington Post that found a dislike of the effect across sexes, in some cases stronger when a woman. It looked at the reactions of 400 men and 400 women to seven voice recordings of each sex aged between 19-30 saying the same phrase.

Our study finds that vocal fry is perceived negatively in both sexes, by both sexes, regardless of the age of the listener. One explanation for this finding is that humans prefer vocal characteristics that are typical of population norms (i.e., “average&#8221. For example, Bruckert et al. show that male and female voices are judged by men and women as more attractive the closer they are in pitch and timbre to the mean of a sample of voices. That is, average voice qualities are preferred. Thus, it is possible that because vocal fry is accompanied by a dramatic reduction in voice pitch relative to normal speech, fry voices are perceived as less attractive.

The results showed women, more so than men, are perceived as less competent, less educated, less trustworthy, less attractive and less hireable when they use vocal fry. The negative perceptions of women who use vocal fry are even stronger when the listener is also a woman. “Collectively, these results suggest young American women should avoid vocal fry in order to maximize labor market perceptions, particularly when being interviewed by another woman,” the researchers concluded.