Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 22, 2019

Has anybody’s career been rebooted on NPR?

Stop scaring the crap out of us, Trudeau…

So I guess you only take callers who do uptalk or valleyspeak.

Okay, I’ve googled this and am still baffled. What does “speaking in Fry” mean?

From Denmark and out of the loop here… what is “Fry” in this context?

What’s he got against Stephen Fry?

From the article I was just reading it seems Noam Chomsky would not be welcome on the show. But, I see the real problem:

Glass talked to linguist Penny Eckert, who did a study asking people to rate how authoritative a radio reporter with vocal fry sounded. The response depended on the age of the rater. Those under 40 thought it sounded authoritative while those over 40 did not. Basically, as summed up by Glass, “if people are having a problem with these reporters on the radio, what it means is they’re old.”

I don’t know the reference to “FRY”. Can anyone explain? Thanks.

Had me going for a bit there…

I miss Roast Trump Sunday.

So, if I go into a fast food place and order fries . . .

What does “speak in Fry” mean?

Dwight Fry lost his mind ;)

Frying is a bit irritating, but I would not give the frier the satisfaction of saying it.

I always wondered what happened to Feedback, so thanks for the update, Garry!

Often when I hear the fry, it makes me want to clear my throat.

I need more coffee. I did not see that coming.

Recently, my local NPR affiliate interviewed a woman who had written a book about the difficulties she experienced working low-wage jobs. I’m sure it is an interesting read, but what a horrible interview! The woman’s every third word was “like.” I had to change stations.

Vocal fry… the myriad small offspring resulting from close vocal harmony?

Really more of a “croak” than a “fry.” God, these scientists are bad at naming shit.

Thudpucker was once touted as “The New Springsteen.” (back when Springsteen was being called “The New Dylan.”) He could make an album of The Great American Songbook, a common go-to career move.

I find vocal fry affectatious and annoying. But not nearly as annoying usually as WHAT the celebrity or other person is actually SAYING! That is, if I CAN actually comprehend what they are saying. The elimination of punctuation, grammar, and use of correct words sometimes leaves my old mind baffled as to what someone is attempting to communicate. As for people “famous for being famous,” I ignore them completely. Not having television helps considerably. I have a TV set, but I just watch DVDs (of my own choosing, of course) – no cable, satellite, etc. Okay, curmudgeon rant over, lol! I did enjoy today’s comic!

This is the monotone voice Hugh Laurie affected on “House”. And the way Benedict Cumberbatch, as Thomas Edison, speaks in the upcoming movie, “The Current War”. Supposedly for these Brits to sound “American”.

It’s rattling sound produced by too little breath being pushed through the vocal cords. It can be combated by the speaker raising the volume of his or her voice or increasing the pitch.