Posted on 11/23/2008 10:47:21 AM PST by AJKauf
6. Something has happened to the generic American male accent. Maybe it is urbanization; perhaps it is now an affectation to sound precise and caring with a patina of intellectual authority; perhaps it is the fashion culture of the metrosexual; maybe it is the influence of the gay community in arts and popular culture. Maybe the ubiquitous new intonation comes from the scarcity of salty old jobs in construction, farming, or fishing.
But increasingly to meet a young American male about 25 is to hear a particular nasal stress, a much higher tone than one heard 40 years ago, and, to be frank, to listen to a precious voice often nearly indistinguishable from the female. How indeed could one make Westerns these days, when there simply is not anyone left who sounds like John Wayne, Richard Boone, Robert Duvall, or Gary Cooper much less a Struther Martin, Jack Palance, L.Q. Jones, or Ben Johnson? I watched the movie Twelve O’clock High the other day, and Gregory Peck and Dean Jagger sounded liked they were from another planet. I confess over the last year, I have been interviewed a half-dozen times on the phone, and had no idea at first whether a male or female was asking the questions. All this sounds absurd, but I think upon reflection readers my age (55) will attest they have had the same experience. ..
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
One little overlooked factoid, back in the heyday of Hollywood, unfiltered Lucky Strikes used to be considered a food group.
-—VDH—in top form—
bfltr
I think the poster, 55, may be suffering from some auditory deficits. I hear and talk with my daughter’s early-twenties male friends all the time, and there is no question what gender any of those young men belongs to. And no, they don’t smoke.
Good post...thanks
I notice the same thing with a lot of the young “male” singers. They seem to make an efort to sound like sissies.
Under twenty-five male language is heavily seasoned with “Yooo....duuuude...’sup?” usually with some Cali surfer accent.
Has nothing to do with the vocal tone:
I've never smoked, but neither has my voice ever been confused with that of a female.
The tonality of your voice IS something you can change, within a range, and it's apparent that the denigration of the American male has had the effect of making males afraid to sound like men.
Note the distinction I make between "male" and "man."
To use a foreign example, the current actor portraying James Bond (and rather forgettably, too, or I'd be able to think of his name!) is male;
Sean Connery, OTOH, is a man.
After some 20 years of teaching mostly minority youth Greek, Latin, and ancient history and literature in translation (1984-2004), I came to the unfortunate conclusion that ethnic studies, women studies—indeed, anything “studies”— were perhaps the fruits of some evil plot dreamed up by illiberal white separatists to ensure that poor minority students in the public schools and universities were offered only a third-rate education.
How true. All those studies - Women's, African-American, Chicano, etc - are hideouts for academic frauds. I cite Cornel West as the outstanding example.
Heck...Luckys were included with C Rats back in WW2.
I enjoy Camels Non Filters...and I am 46....
I don't disagree with much of VDH’s opinion on Hollywood, but there are still gems to be found occasionally. I would put Open Range up against the westerns he mentioned (Shane, the Searchers, High Noon, or the Wild Bunch).
LOL!!!!
As if any professor would care!
The vast majority of professors are as ignorant of history as their students, except their own politically driven, left wing, extremist agendas.
I work with the public everyday and have definately noticed this. Especially true of young men from Seattle and Portland.
Just noticed my tagline has the wrong dte...should read Jan 20, 2009...a national day of mourning...fixed
Agreed, although I did not care for Shane
If one wishes to see a fine film, they are now usually foreign, such as Das Boot or Breaker Morant.
Uh, those movies are now more than a quarter century old.
Watching any recent war movie (e.g., Iraq as the Rape of Nanking) is as if someone put uniforms on student protestors and told them to consult their professors for the impromptu script.
War movies are not very popular among anyone born from 1981 on, the demo that Hollywood wants to capture.
Something has happened to the generic American male accent.
IE the CALIFORNIA accent, that has exercised tyranny over (white) American English since the development of motion pictures and mass media. Actually, the bigger problem is the HOMOGENIZATION of regular speech patterns. People in Manhattan now aspire to the bland, generic, upper middle class white American accent that you hear in places like Littleton and Scottsdale.
Which leads to this:
We have given political eccentricity a bad name. There used to be all sorts of classy individualists, liberal and conservative alike
Because "regionalism" (which feeds individual idiosyncrasies) is under attack from the same upper middle class douchebags that are homogenizing our cities, our entertainment, and our speech patterns. Such (secular, educated) people frown on deviation from the norm/politically correct as much as the Holy Hosannah crowd used to frown on heathens.
For all the paranoia (usually coming from bland, Pete Wilson types) about America becoming more "diverse", the fact is that we are becoming more HOMOGENIZED, albeit split between a homogenized, bland PC upper middle/upper class and a pseudo macho/thuggish Prole and lumpen prole class with the same accents, tastes, styles of dress, etc. common among these two subgroups.
Am I alone in defending regional diversity against the homogenizing effects of mass culture, most of it emanating from the western part of the country?
Agreed, although I did not care for Shane
If one wishes to see a fine film, they are now usually foreign, such as Das Boot or Breaker Morant.
Uh, those movies are now more than a quarter century old.
Watching any recent war movie (e.g., Iraq as the Rape of Nanking) is as if someone put uniforms on student protestors and told them to consult their professors for the impromptu script.
War movies are not very popular among anyone born from 1981 on, the demo that Hollywood wants to capture.
Something has happened to the generic American male accent.
IE the CALIFORNIA accent, that has exercised tyranny over (white) American English since the development of motion pictures and mass media. Actually, the bigger problem is the HOMOGENIZATION of regular speech patterns. People in Manhattan now aspire to the bland, generic, upper middle class white American accent that you hear in places like Littleton and Scottsdale.
Which leads to this:
We have given political eccentricity a bad name. There used to be all sorts of classy individualists, liberal and conservative alike
Because "regionalism" (which feeds individual idiosyncrasies) is under attack from the same upper middle class douchebags that are homogenizing our cities, our entertainment, and our speech patterns. Such (secular, educated) people frown on deviation from the norm/politically correct as much as the Holy Hosannah crowd used to frown on heathens.
For all the paranoia (usually coming from bland, Pete Wilson types) about America becoming more "diverse", the fact is that we are becoming more HOMOGENIZED, albeit split between a homogenized, bland PC upper middle/upper class and a pseudo macho/thuggish Prole and lumpen prole class with the same accents, tastes, styles of dress, etc. common among these two subgroups.
Am I alone in defending regional diversity against the homogenizing effects of mass culture, most of it emanating from the western part of the country?
Finally:
Maybe it is that the Right already had its Reformation when Buckley and others purged the extremists—the Birchers, the neo-Confederates, racialists, the fluoride-in-the-water conspiracists, anti-Semites, and assorted nuts.
The neo-confederate "south was right" folks are still here (hi guys!). I disagree with them, but seem them as colorful eccentrics and a force against the cultural homogenization that I mentioned above.
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