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 ...
Guess he never met Frankie Valle
True, but at least you can usually tell what gender the speaker is. Hanson is complaining because people of indeterminate sex call him up on the phone for interviews. That probably has something to do with the sort of people who are involved in writing and publishing rather than the general population of young men, if you know what I mean.
Broke Back Mountain.
All I have to say is? When young people end every little phrase? Like they are asking a question? It gets really annoying? Do you know what I mean?
And don’t even get me started on “like” hahaha
Oh yes, they're definitely out there. I've been calling them "Valley Boys" for years.
I think he is more thinking of guys like Tim Robbins who uses a small snif-snif British accent even though he was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley (east of L.A.) and has lived the rest of his life on So. Cal.
John Wayne, Bob Mitchum and others mentioned had their own unique accent and style — certainly NOT homogenized by any measure.
Victor hits it clean out of the park.
I think that is the true point of the rant -- those individual accents, based on regional accents, are being lost to a high-pitched, slightly nasal whine across the board.
Any subject with "Science" in its name is not science, and any subject with "Studies" in its name is not worth studying.
-ccm
I can’t watch modern war movies. Most of the actors grow a few days worth of facial hair, but look like they never did a day’s work in their life. Either that or they look gym-buff.
Look at pictures back when - people were wiry-er.
“John Wayne, Richard Boone, Robert Duvall, or Gary Cooper much less a Struther Martin, Jack Palance, L.Q. Jones, or Ben Johnson?”
Another one to add to this list: Lloyd Bochner (probably best remembered from the Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man”). That guy had a voice that was the epitome of suave.
Guys, can we aim for some middle ground? I can’t watch old movies because every man in them sounds like he’s about to either take on some no-good yella-belly at high noon or issue some bulletin about the Russians. On the other hand, I can’t watch Matt Damon, Leo Dicaprio, etc., in any serious role because they all sound like Anderson Cooper or the Mac guy from the PC/Mac commercials.
True. But, it's not just the cigarette voice of Don Imus, Peter Jennings, Tom Borkaw or the wiskey voice of some country singers... It's that when you talk to one on the phone they have a woman's 'lilt'? (or lisp) that sounds like those fashion designer / gay fashion critic guys guys on TV.
That is among the many things that makes me grateful to have been born racially-mixed. Though my voice is not particularly deep, it is mellifluous (as far as I’ve been told) and I have been asked if I’m from the “South” because it’s more of an ‘urban accent.’
I have unfortunately taken on the accents of some of the Midwestern flatness of both Iowa and Seattle (whose progenitors were from the Upper Midwest in many cases) but I still retain some of that ‘street’ which gives me a more distinct vocal pattern.
I certainly do not sound “surfer dude” “valley boy” or even MTV “accent-less.”
Thank God!
One of the most puzzling developments I’ve seen over the past thirty years is the demand by certain types i.e. libs that nobody be judgmental. Libs are the most judgmental people in the world. If you do agree to their twisted view of the way things ought to be, you are condemned in no uncertain terms. Look at the same-sex marriage fiasco in California and the thuggish behavior by homosexual advocates to see what I mean.
Part of that may be just being 18 or 19 and not having “found their own voice” just yet so they try to sound like the guy on the radio/record. I try to get my own 18 year-old aspiring singer/songwriter son out with me to the more basic old time smoky beer drinking dives where men sing like men and testosterone is not considered some kind of contraband. Write songs that tell the truth, stand up by yourself and sing them to a tough crowd. If you can’t do that, you ain’t got it.
I say that because there are people who go on year after year about how the world is getting worse and worse. Even if they're right, it gets tiresome after a while.
That said, if California's a lost paradise, it may not be because they can't build more nuclear power plants, offshore oil wells or superhighways. Something a lot more valuable was lost there a while ago.
And VDH has a bum ear. Peck and Jagger had voices of a very different sort than Wayne or Boone or Cooper. Just like Paul Lynde's accent would still stand out in a crowd.
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