Vocal Fry (AKA the Britney Spears Croak)

[Kiwi]

Oh, man! Changing the subject here, but due to my oldfartitis, slight deafness, and the vocal fry (aka the Britney Spears Croak) of that woman, plus the high speed at which she talks, I can't understand most of what she says. And I'd quite like to understand.

Have at this one.

Could the females who indulge in this "fashion" perhaps be much more prone to getting cancer of the larynx than those who speak normally?

It's becoming as prevalent as the Playstation Slouch.  Y' know the one -- neck and upper back sloping so far forward that chin and nose are forward of the chest -- that the "victims" have to raise their eyes to look straight ahead. You could possibly stand a mug of coffee on their upper back. And looking at the victims from the front, the tops of their shoulders are level with their mid- or lower-ears.

But that's another subject that almost deserves its own thread.

[onebigmonkey]

Not necessarily a female thing.

There's a young guy at work whose voice is so low, and way of speaking so relaxed, that I swear you can hear every flap of his laryngeal folds. I'm pretty sure some of his speech is only audible to migrating whales.

[Zakalwe]

She sounds like the plastic teeth that she has crammed into her mouth are probably a couple of sizes too big.

[Kiwi]

Not necessarily a female thing.

True, there's the Lee Marvin Croak and the Kris Kristofferson Croak, which are sometimes said to come from whiskey/whisky, but that might just be a terrible rumour. Nevertheless, females who croak are much harder to understand than males who croak. Something to do with register or pitch or similar things that I don't understand.

[Zakalwe]

To be honest, I had to Google "vocal fry" as I had never heard of it. Now that I have, I am not sure that I want to live in a world where such things exist.. 

At times like this I am glad that the vast deluge of tripe that is modern popular "culture" passes me by without me noticing. I am delighted that I have never seen any TV program with the words "celebrity", "got talent", "Big Brother" or "extreme" in the title. I have no idea what a Kardashian is, nor any desire to learn.

Long may it continue like this!
 

[Kiwi]

I have no idea what a Kardashian is, nor any desire to learn.

An ash-grey cardigan, isn't it?  Popular with elderly Brits who wear knotted handkerchiefs on their balding heads when they visit boulder-covered beaches.

[Ducks and hurriedly leaves before getting told off.]

[bknight]

I have no idea what a Kardashian is, nor any desire to learn.

Best you don't know or try to find out what these stupid social  events are.

[Ishkabibble]

I have no idea what a Kardashian is, nor any desire to learn.

Isn't that one of those aliens on Star Trek that looks sort of like a  grayish snake with scales and those shoulders that slope up into their neck?

[Luckmeister]

At times like this I am glad that the vast deluge of tripe that is modern popular "culture" passes me by without me noticing. I am delighted that I have never seen any TV program with the words "celebrity", "got talent", "Big Brother" or "extreme" in the title.

And anything that's called reality on tv -- because it's NOT!

Kim Carnes had/has one of those blown-voice sounds (she's 70 now) and I really liked It's a Heartache.

Here it is on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY9ryc_D-Sg&list=RDzY9ryc_D-Sg#t=17

[Ishkabibble]

At times like this I am glad that the vast deluge of tripe that is modern popular "culture" passes me by without me noticing. I am delighted that I have never seen any TV program with the words "celebrity", "got talent", "Big Brother" or "extreme" in the title.

And anything that's called reality on tv -- because it's NOT!

Kim Carnes had/has one of those blown-voice sounds (she's 70 now) and I really liked It's a Heartache.

Here it is on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY9ryc_D-Sg&list=RDzY9ryc_D-Sg#t=17

Except that was Bonnie Tyler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8VGQTtENS

Kim Carnes was better known for "Bette Davis Eyes"

[Luckmeister]

At times like this I am glad that the vast deluge of tripe that is modern popular "culture" passes me by without me noticing. I am delighted that I have never seen any TV program with the words "celebrity", "got talent", "Big Brother" or "extreme" in the title.

And anything that's called reality on tv -- because it's NOT!

Kim Carnes had/has one of those blown-voice sounds (she's 70 now) and I really liked It's a Heartache.

Here it is on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY9ryc_D-Sg&list=RDzY9ryc_D-Sg#t=17

Except that was Bonnie Tyler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8VGQTtENS

Kim Carnes was better known for "Bette Davis Eyes"

Yep, thanks for the correction. My aging memory lets me down sometimes.

[Ishkabibble]

At times like this I am glad that the vast deluge of tripe that is modern popular "culture" passes me by without me noticing. I am delighted that I have never seen any TV program with the words "celebrity", "got talent", "Big Brother" or "extreme" in the title.

And anything that's called reality on tv -- because it's NOT!

Kim Carnes had/has one of those blown-voice sounds (she's 70 now) and I really liked It's a Heartache.

Here it is on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY9ryc_D-Sg&list=RDzY9ryc_D-Sg#t=17

Except that was Bonnie Tyler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8VGQTtENS

Kim Carnes was better known for "Bette Davis Eyes"

Yep, thanks for the correction. My aging memory lets me down sometimes.

I tell my students (whippersnappers, the lot of them) frequently... If you don't write it down, it never happened, and even if it did, when you get to be my age, the memory is the second thing to go.

I quite understand. Easy mistake to make. Both of them were gravelly-voiced blonde one-hit wonders. Oh, they released other songs, but they were one-hit wonders. Nothing in the category of say, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, or Heart, or the Stones...