Stop Talking Like That!

There's a scene in a movie called In a World where the main character, a voiceover artist, passes a girl on the street. The girl says something and the voiceover artist hands her a business card.

"I just want to give you my card. I'm not a vocal coach anymore, but I would make an exception for you because you sound like a squeaky toy. And I don't mean that in a bad way."



Squeaky-toy voice is annoying. But there's a voice issue that has been bothering me for a while. When we went on vacation, it seemed every 20-something female I met was speaking this way. It's called vocal fry--that sound that has apparently caught on thanks to Kim Kardashian's mind control of America. Here's are some samples of it if you'd like to hear it.



As the woman explains in the video, speech pathologists consider it a disorder. It can actually damage the vocal cords. Yet they'll continue to do it as the rest of us roll our eyes.



Studies have shown that speaking this way makes someone less hirable. Interestingly, though, a separate survey found that someone who speaks this way is seen as more urban and intelligent. See...told you Kim Kardashian has brainwashed them all. 



Apparently she hasn't yet infected the brains of hiring managers across America, though. So if you think your creaky voice is cute, 20-something women, you might want to disguise it before you try to land a job in an office.



Have you noticed anything odd about the way young people talk?