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Valspeak
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, from the Los Angeles commuter communities of the San Fernando Valley. The term in later years became more broadly applied to any female in the United States who embodied ditziness, airheadedness, or greater interest in conspicuous consumption than intellectual or personal accomplishment. Valleyspeak Valleyspeak or Valspeak is an American English social dialect and accompanying vocal features, best associated with Valley girls, though elements of it have spread to other demographics, including men called "Val dudes". This sociolect became an international fad for a certain period in the 1980s and 1990s, with a peak period from around 1981 to 1985. Valleyspeak is popularly characterized by both the steady use of uptalk and its vocabulary. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valley Girl (song)
"Valley Girl" is a song by American musician Frank Zappa and his then-14-year-old daughter, Moon Zappa. The song appeared on Zappa's 1982 album ''Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch'' and was released as a single, becoming his sole Top 40 hit. Though Zappa intended it to be a mocking satire of San Fernando Valley teen culture, the success of the song inadvertently popularized the "valley girl" stereotype and its associated mannerisms. Background The track resulted from the combination of a guitar riff that Frank had composed and Moon's desire to work with her father. According to Zappa biographer Kelly Fisher Lowe, Frank woke Moon in the middle of the night and took her to a studio to recreate conversations that she had had with friends. The lyrics were a deliberate attack on the slang and behavior of stereotypical valley girls. Zappa stressed that it was not a happy song, and that he hated the San Fernando Valley, calling it "a most depressing place." Moon supplied Fra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California English
California English (or Californian English) collectively refers to varieties of American English native to California. A distinctive vowel shift was first noted by linguists in the 1980s in southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California.Gordon, Matthew J. (2004). "The West and Midwest: phonology." Kortmann, Bernd, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie, Edgar W. Schneider and Clive Upton (eds). A Handbook of Varieties of English'' Volume 1: Phonology, Volume 2: Morphology and Syntax. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 347. This helped to define an accent emerging primarily among youthful, white, urban, coastal speakers, and popularly associated with the valley girl and surfer dude youth subcultures.California English " ''Do You Speak American?'' |
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, Virtuoso, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and ''musique concrète'' works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Like
In English, the word ''like'' has a very flexible range of uses, ranging from conventional to non-standard. It can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, and quotative. Uses Comparisons ''Like'' is one of the words in the English language that can introduce a simile (a stylistic device comparing two dissimilar ideas). It can be used as a preposition, as in "He runs ''like'' a cheetah"; it can also be used as a suffix, as in "She acts very child-''like''. It can also be used in non-simile comparisons such as, "She has a dog ''like'' ours". As a conjunction ''Like'' is often used in place of the subordinating conjunction ''as'', or ''as if''. Examples: * They look ''like'' they have been having fun. * They look ''as if'' they have been having fun. Many people became aware of the two options in 1954, when a famous ad campaign for Winston cigarettes introduced the slogan " Winston tastes good—like a cigarette should." T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Youth Subculture
Youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, work, home and school. Youth subcultures that show a systematic hostility to the dominant culture are sometimes described as countercultures. Youth music genres are associated with many youth subcultures, such as hip-hop, punks, emos, ravers, Juggalos, metalheads, manelisti, and goths. The study of subcultures often consists of the study of the symbolism attached to clothing, music and other visible affections by members of the subculture, and also, the ways in which these symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. Socioeconomic class, gender, intelligence, conformity, morality and ethnicity, can be important in relation to youth subcultures. Youth subcultures can be defined as systems, modes of expression or lifestyles, developed by groups in subordinate st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Rising Terminal
The high rising terminal (HRT), also known as upspeak, uptalk, or high rising intonation (HRI) is a feature of some variants of English where declarative sentences can end with a rising pitch similar to that typically found in yes-or-no questions. HRT has been claimed to be especially common among younger speakers and women, though its exact sociolinguistic implications are an ongoing subject of research. Intonational characteristics Empirically, one report proposes that HRT in American English and Australian English is marked by a high tone (high pitch or high fundamental frequency) beginning on the final accented syllable near the end of the statement (the terminal), and continuing to increase in frequency (up to 40%) to the end of the intonational phrase. New research suggests that the actual rise can occur one or more syllables after the last accented syllable of the phrase, and its range is much more variable than previously thought. Usage In the United States, the phe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gag Me With A Spoon
A gag is usually an item or device designed to prevent speech, often as a restraint device to stop the subject from calling for help and keep its wearer silent. This is usually done by blocking the mouth, partially or completely, or attempting to prevent the tongue, lips, or jaw from moving in the normal patterns of speech. The more "effective" a gag appears to be, the more hazardous it is. For example duct tape is a fairly effective method of keeping a person's mouth shut but can be hazardous if the subject cannot breathe freely through the nose (for example if they have the common cold). For this reason, a gagged person should never be left alone. The use of gags is commonly depicted in soap operas and crime fiction, particularly in comics and novels. It is also often used in movies, such as ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and its sequel ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull''. Courts have been known to gag certain people, such as the civil rights activist Bobby Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grody
Grody is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Bill Grody *Kathryn Grody Kathryn Janis Grody is an American actress and writer. Early life and education Grody was born in Los Angeles, California. She studied acting at HB Studio in New York City. Career Grody wrote, and acted in, the autobiographical play ''Mom's Lif ... (born 1946), American actress and writer {{Short pages monitor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
