Adult Children by Stephen Beals for September 28, 2017

  1. Compressed orion nebula
    Map_One  over 7 years ago

    Never heard of up-speak. Is that the latest verbal fad?

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  2. Hannah
    don.fitzsimons  over 7 years ago

    Itā€™s also called the ā€œrising terminalā€, which is the better description in my opinion. Just as the punctuation indicates, a declarative sentence sounds as if it is an interrogative. Iā€™m unaware of any proper use for the rising terminal. I think that people use it often to express some element of controversy, doubt or truth into a statement.

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  3. Claremont
    Stephen Beals creator over 7 years ago

    Upspeak and vocal grind are two common speech patterns that get under my skin. Itā€™s somewhat new, in that a lot of young adults are guilty of this. I call upspeak arbitrary question mark placement.

    Some people have driven me slightly mad with it, Iā€™ll have to admit.

    NPRā€™s Fresh Air had a great show on this, if you care to look it up.

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  4. Piggy
    BubbleTape Premium Member over 7 years ago

    Upspeak isnā€™t new ā€“ the term is. It has a longer history in that there has, and still is, a tendency for girls/women being socialized not to be, or come across as, assertive (i.e., a ā€œbitchā€), whereby theyā€™d be explicitly or subtly taught to make their statements sounds like a question (ā€˜lil ā€™ol me doesnā€™t really have an opinion, but may I askā€¦). Nothing a real man likes less than an aggressive female ā€” so unladylike, sugar and spice, etc etc. (notice that the person using upspeak, either conscious or unconscious by Mx. Beals, is female.)Granted, not limited to girls/women, fortunately less of trend, and it is annoying, but seems a bit harsh / ignorant to be critical of women who have picked up the habit either unintentionally or strategically, out of practical necessity.

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    halvincobbes Premium Member over 7 years ago

    I find both upspeak and vocal fry annoying as hell. It seems as if itā€™s the way young people speak (both men and women) so Iā€™d better adjust my attitude. It sounds as odd to my ear as the mid-Atlantic accent. Things change.

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    banjinshiju  over 7 years ago

    The growth of the practice of ā€œupspeakā€ may be the fear of being definite on anything today. There is always some group quick to declare somebody a ā€œhaterā€ for stating a basic fact. For example, if you say that the Earth is a sphere, some member of the flat earth society will be offended.

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