Why do so many young (and sometimes older) women talk like Valley Girls? (conversation, college)
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It's not just women. A lot of guys are speaking like this too. Too much feminization in the media and schools, reality TV, young boys being raised on Nickelodeon and Disney, and the watering down of gender roles. More and more women are also acting like alpha males, particularly in movies, television and commercials.
I think a lot of this is a result of regional dialects slowly diminishing all together and molding into one base American accent, the accent we hear most in pop culture which includes the vocal fry/valley girl thing. That's probably one of the most heard accents in the country and a lot of socialites who are idolized by these girls/women speak this way so they're just imitating their heroes and probably also just genuinely influenced by the saturation of it in pop media.
It seems that regional accents are disappearing, and this accent; which can be heard on any college campus in America (I'll change that to many) is taking over.
If you watch "HGTV Property Virgins", often the female half of the couple will sport a variant of this accent.
Take a tour of a college. You're guide will most likely have some form of this dialect.
I particularly hear it among middle to upper middle class people in their teens through 30s. Lower class people of the same age group are more likely to speak with a regional accent.
Upper class girls speak the same as they ever did.
I think a lot of this is a result of regional dialects slowly diminishing all together and molding into one base American accent, the accent we hear most in pop culture which includes the vocal fry/valley girl thing. That's probably one of the most heard accents in the country and a lot of socialites who are idolized by these girls/women speak this way so they're just imitating their heroes and probably also just genuinely influenced by the saturation of it in pop media.
You basically said what I was saying...pop culture = Disney/Nickelodeon/reality TV etc has a big influence on the dialect and inflection of our youth. Not sure where you pull conspiracy theorists out of your ass.
You basically said what I was saying...pop culture = Disney/Nickelodeon/reality TV etc has a big influence on the dialect and inflection of our youth. Not sure where you pull conspiracy theorists out of your ass.
It was the "feminization" thing, like we're all intentionally being "turned" gay for some kind of agenda. Sorry, maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to imply.
I was just thinking about this thread-I was in the bathroom here at work and two girls were talking. One of them had a BAD case of valley girl going on. It makes me want to throw up.
"OMG" or "Oh My GAWD" in various different forms
The word "like" inserted between almost every other word..
Using the word "soooo" to add emphasis to something
"So, I was like OMG!! like I am soooo not ready for work today and he was like, you soooo have to try
and come in today, we are sooo shorthanded and I was like Oh My GAAWD, I am like soooo not feeling good today that I have to like call in sick"
"Omigod! That dress is sooooo you!!"
Yeah, UGH! I live near a college area and I often hear older women talking in variations like this also.
I guess the difference came when I travelled abroad for business recently and witnessed people actually expressing themselves well and these were not even native English speakers.
Speech patterns spread in part because TV allows them to transcend geographical barriers instantly. Older people may adopt young people's speech in part to feel younger, but also due to media influence. But many don't. It's more of an individual thing beyond a certain age.
We get a fairly large number of American college students as tourists where I live in southern Portugal. I have been told that most of them are students attending colleges in Spain. The accent characteristics being discussed in this thread seem quite common to the females. I used to think that these women came from SoCal, but maybe not.
There's a woman I only know through talking to her on the phone? It's a business thing? And she ends every sentence? Sometimes every clause? Or phrase? As if she's asking a question? DRIVES ME NUTS. PERIOD. FULL STOP.
This drives me nuts too! Where did this come from? The only men I've ever heard do it were gay.
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Valley Girls
