Vocal Fry

[deckardcanine]

A pattern many folks decry
Is overuse of vocal fry,
By which I mean a rasp or creak
That happens often when we speak.

The sound is easy to produce
When vocal cords are very loose.
Some languages, like Finnish, use
The method for linguistic cues.

In English, it’s a rarer sound
That used to be most often found
In British males: Just hear Shere Khan
Or C.S. Lewis or James Bond,

Whose use of falling intonation
In Received Pronunciation
Featured vocal fry a lot.
Today the sound is widely thought

To be a U.S. female thing.
Consider how some pop stars sing.
Perhaps they mean to imitate
The register of males of late

To sound authoritative, but
Alas, it doesn’t make the cut.
It might suggest incompetence,
Dishonesty, low confidence,

Or other undesired traits,
A study seems to demonstrate.
Of course, we will need more than one
To say much research has been done.

For my part, I don’t really care
Or notice when the sound is there,
Except in songs, which make me think,
“Increase your effort, lest you stink!”