Do You Creak?

Today, thanks to my good friend Jeff, I stumbled across this podcast on Slate. I don't usually listen to podcasts, as I can't absorb the info all that well and usually find my mind wandering when I'm *supposed* to be listening (you can imagine what kind of student I was...). However, I was, like, totally into the subject matter and before I knew it had listened to the entire podcast -- TWICE.

According to wikipedia, vocal fry or creaky voice "is the lowest vocal register and is produced through a loose glottal closure which will permit air to bubble through slowly with a popping or rattling sound of a very low frequency." What? Here, take a quick listen. 

Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so too. Kind of sounds like every disaffected, apathetic, asshole (female) teenager I've ever worked with. According to Lexicon Valley, however, it is the speak of "contemporary, urban, upwardly mobile women" and is the result, maybe, of some perceived benefit women attain from lowering the pitch of their voices to more match that of their male counterparts, thereby producing a more authoritative, male-like sound.

I'm not sure if I believe that, but if it's true, I blame Elle Woods.