November 24, 2015
I liiiiike Laura on "Jeopardy."
I had to go searching for that after reading "The Unfan Club Of #LauraOnJeopardy/Uptalking lawyer Laura Ashby tests the patience of Jeopardy fans with her vocal fry."
She's doing something beyond vocal fry. Or up-talk. She's got her own way of talking. I find it quite wonderful. I bet the haters don't have charming voices or anything interesting to say. And, quite frankly, I think people who get too riled by women's voices should do some soul searching.
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75 comments:
Is it just " people who get too riled by women's voices" what about men's voices?
#allvoicesmatter
It's amusing in this montage, but I'm just not sure how I would react if I met her in person. Would she be a likable enough person that it was charming, or would she and her manner of talking both just be annoying?
Intelligent and beautiful what's not to like? Sort of liked her voice.
Her way of speaking reminds me of someone, but I can't put my finger on who. I suspect a comedian on Saturday Night Live.
And, quite frankly, I think people who get too riled by women's voices should do some soul searching.
Just women? Or do people who get too riled by men's voices need to do some soul searching too?
I would have used the word "people's" myself.
"And, quite frankly, I think people who get too riled by men in shorts should do some soul searching."
I have a colleague who talks this way. I don't think it's put-on at all, or the least off-putting.
I think people who get too riled by women's voices should do some soul searching.
Coincidentally I think people who refer to minor critics as "haters" should do some also.
It's not vocal fry, exactly. It's that odd way she drawls out the end of every sentence or phrase she utters. I don't know if it irritated me, exactly (and I make no claim to having a charming voice or anything interesting to say), but it certainly caught my attention, and not in a good way. Rather than listening to the substance of what she was saying, I was listening to hear if she was going to do it again and then exclaiming, "She did it again!" Mostly, I just wondered why on earth she talks like that.
Althouse again bringing up the issues the whole world cares about...
This time with more moral preening. Isn't that so helpful of our hostess?
Some people have annoying voices. Some of them are men (Gilbert Gottfried) some are not so man-like.
Her speaking pattern is awful and makes her sound childish. Just like Keeanu Reeves'.
And I have a wonderful voice. I've been a radio personality, done professional voice-overs and travelled the world as a professional speaker.
You must hate it that you were born a woman. What else explains that huge chip on your shoulder? Have you sought counseling?
Maybe you should think long and hard about that.
See, I can be helpful too.
And do you think that this quality of a post will allow you to harvest pearls from the comments section?
Goodness gracious.
She seems enthusiastic and interesting. People don't like that?
nice, "hunnnndred"
In the short contestant interview portion (all I watched) I picked up no vocal fry or uptalk. I did see a consistent, unusual side to side head movement that I can best describe as a shimmy.
There is a woman on sports talk radio in the mornings here in Miami who could give vocal fry lessons to the Kardashians.
For me, a mere peeve, not a pet peeve.
After I record a new voice mail message and play it back, I hate it.
I sound nasal with a heavy New York accent.
It doesn't sound like that in my head while I'm talking.
I bet the haters don't have charming voices or anything interesting to say.
There is nothing charming about a stutter, or Tourette's syndrome. She uses the vocal fry because she fears she has nothing interesting to say. It's cuteness displacing confidence.
I see the whole thing as dotting your 'i' with a circle. It's twisting your hair around your finger while speaking. It should have been abandoned at puberty.
What is annoying about Jeopardy is the insistence upon putting the answers in the form of a question. It adds nothing to the show, except to slow it down, although it was the "hook" that supposedly differentiated it from other game shows. As I recall, Merv said his wife suggested it.
It's bugged me since Art Fleming was the host. I wish they'd give it a rest, put it to bed and call it a day.
That is unique. Sounds vaguely like an upper class New Englander trying to pass as a Valley Girl.
What do you like about her? That she has a strange way of speaking? You must looooooooooooove living in the Midwest where nearly everyone sounds like the Swedish chef from the Muppets if he became fluent in English.
If we can't express outrage by common things or popular trends, then how are we supposed to demonstrate how interesting we are as individuals? I mean, mayonaise, ugh!
It's not really vocal-fry, is it? We lived in Atlanta for about 15 years. Looots of young women there talk like that. Laura combines a touch of Trans-Atlantic with the side-to-side head wiggle. Very cute.
It's not really that bad. the way it's edited emphasizes the sing-song effect.
Hey, is this micro-agression against her, or just plain bullying or making fun
of someone you cannot compete with? She seems to know her stuff.
Maybe just a bit of envy?
I love the contestants with unique voices. The affable Brennan Bushee, for example, who sort of talks through his nose.
I watched yesterday's match, and yes her voice/delivery was I observed almost immediately, different. Within the context of Jeopardy it was interesting, and slightly endearing. And yes there are some women's voices that I find highly annoying, and couldnt imagine spending more than brief periods of time with them. I have no desire to search my soul to determine the reason. I'm happy to accept that my response is the result of some primal warning that they simply wouldn't be good people for me to associate with. As luck would have it I love the sound of my wife's voice.
Sounds nervous to me.
Her speaking style reminds me of SNL's "Penelope" dragging out the soooo on the end of every sentence.
Well, I find it quite irritating and grating.
I wonder how long that marriage will last if she keepes it up at home too.
Hmm... doesn't sound Georgian to me. Maybe Pennsylvania...
I noticed she is very direct, and looks you in the eye. She has a good body language.
Does she have kids? I bet a kid or two would shorten her cadence.
Wilbur said...
What is annoying about Jeopardy is the insistence upon putting the answers in the form of a question. It adds nothing to the show, except to slow it down...
I always assumed that delay was to give the people at home a chance to chime in with the answer before the contestant.
The "hater" concept is really an impediment to actual communication, even of an insulting kind. The idea that anyone who expresses disapproval or dislike for something must be envious, jealous, or expressing some (conscious or subconscious) inadequacy of their own serves to end any substantive discussion or back and forth and immediately shifts the argument to the nature of the person making the original expression. It's not even a jujitsu move (whereby you'd turn the other person's argument against them), it's just an immediate derailment.
I dislike X. That's because you're a hater. No, I'm not a hater, here are my reasons for disliking X. Nope, that's what a hater would say, you're a hater. Scene.
I guess it's a lateral move from there to immediately implying that anyone who expresses disagreement (or strong disagreement) must be a sexist, or a racists, or an x-ist, but at least those accusations are specific to the person's supposed failures. "Hater" just avoids the discussion altogether and is so vaguely-defined as to preclude anything further.
"I really dislike a particular style of speaking/voice some women use." You need to do some serious soul searching, buddy.
"I really dislike a particular style of dress/fashion some men use." Hey, shorts are awful on men, it's just a fact.
Are "voices" part of "bodies," though? I mean, is someone who gets riled by a woman's voice is that an "attack on her body," or no?
It sounds as if she's invented a unique way to fill the space normally occupied by a vocal tic.
We'll take a roll of duct tape for 5000, Alex.
What is annoying about Jeopardy is the insistence upon putting the answers in the form of a question. It adds nothing to the show, except to slow it down...
There's always compelling tension when a contestant is penalized for failing to provide a question. Also when on rare occasions a contestant uses a unique phrasing that screws with Alex a bit. Is it Sophocles?
Better than Hillary's.
"I think people who get too riled by women's voices should do some soul searching."
And also check their privilege.
A southern shape note sound mixed with a good education. Definitely a Westminster girl in Atlanta.
But horrible.
It sooooouuuuunds like an affectaaaaaaatiooooon.
If you've wondered how we've raised a nation of 'special snowflakes' like those we see disrupting college campuses today, please don't attribute it to just their parents; Gramsci's invisible hand reaches deeply into academia. How else does one explain the OP? A simple "here's an interesting human phenomenon. I kinda like it. Here's why. What do you think and why?" may have elicited an interesting discussion from the commentariat. Instead we get a post that pre-judges base motives to those who find it annoying.
She points out in one post the hypocrisy of the 'men and women are exactly alike, but women are better' attitude in the press and then in this post impugns as sexist those who disagree with her position on the attributes of a woman's speaking style. Is the OP self-aware enough to realize who the real 'hater' is in her post?
And I won't buy the 'but-I-said-TOO-worked-up' argument as a valid excuse for her muddled missive. By definition, too much of anything is, well, too much. Using it as a weasel word to justify one's statement takes all meaning out of her sentence. It is therefore revealed as a vacuous remark.
She claims some moral high ground when indeed she has taken the lowest road.
Maybe women are bad with maps.
Sounds to me like she needs to get laaaaaid.
The Goggle reveals she is indeed an Atlanta Lawyer born and raised here. I was surprised at the fuss over her accent. She talks totally normal.
She just sounds girlish. And happy. Is that so terrible?
Althouse is clearly being sarcastic. Channeling Titus a bit in the process, too.
Thank you Don Pardo.
"I think people who get too riled by women's voices should do some soul searching"
On the other hand, people "too riled" by men's suits and shorts should carry on. Their souls are pure and caring, so obviously good there's nothing to search.
She made a funny during the happy talk with the Asshole Host. She described swimming with sharks while on vacation in Hawaii. She noted that for her and the hubby, vacation adventure usually meant watching TV in a different time zone.
I thought it was funny.
How is she particularly interesting? They have lots of interesting contestants, but other than the speech pattern she seemed kind of run of the mill to me.
If your political view is awful, you need a good voice. If your political view is OK, like Rand Paul's or Pat Buchanan's, you can get away with a voice like theirs. Eleanor Clift of McLaughlin Group fails both tests. Since McLaughlin appears to need a socialist on his show for balance, he should find one with a non-shrill voice you can stand. Probably a man like Bernie Sanders.
Women wonder why they don't make it to the executive suite. Often it's because of the voice. Even Jimmie Carter took voice lessons. They should too. Either that or a voice transplant:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20013-woman-speaks-after-pioneering-voice-box-transplant/
"I think people who get too riled by women's voices should do some soul searching."
From what I've seen, it's usually female SJWs complaining about men "pathologizing" women's voices...while men like myself try to figure out what the fuss is all about...googling the terms women have come up with.
Blogger BDNYC said...
... the Midwest where nearly everyone sounds like the Swedish chef from the Muppets if he became fluent in English.
Ah..so you watched Fargo, eh? Are you saying that in one of those fab NYC accents?
Her style of speaking is clear and bright, reflecting a quick mind, I believe. Why would this annoy anyone, it's really not all that unusual. Sarah Palin's high pitched screechy rambling speech set my teeth on edge, this woman is a breath of fresh air compared to her.
She ain't no wayzze tyrred.
She sounds like Cartman. Authori-tah.
The drawl doesn't bother me a bit, but if I had to look at the head shimmy (from the first part of the video) in every one-on-one conversation, my eyeballs would fall out.
Is it nervousness? Was her whole body twitching? It looked to me like a grown-up version of that little dance kids do when they need to ask for something but are embarrassed about it.
I have to focus in order to register accents anymore. Working around here, I had to get past English spoken with Japanese, Hindi, Brazilian, Dutch, French, Chinese, Spanish, Irish, Russian, Vietnamese, Swedish, Aussie, Iranian accents, etc etc ad infinitum, plus all the regional accents of North America. (BTW, you haven't lived until you've been in a meeting with a Japanese partner and two US colleagues speaking decent Japanese, but with heavy Irish and Hindi accents. The look on the Japanese guy's face was priceless.)
Her timbre is actually very nice. The affectations (as I view them) are annoying.
Sure, I could put up with it for a little bit... as long as my self-interest is being served, IYCMD, but I would never hire her because she'd drive me and others nuts. Can any of the posters here who are not from Atlanta and who find it attractive honestly say that they could stand that for a long time?
I would hope that an educator would have advised her to take speech lessons. Maybe not. Educators aren't particularly impressive these days.
If indeed her speech is representative of the people of Atlanta (I haven't been there in 20 years)then I could see how it would have been considered 'normal' and not addressed. Too bad.
She has an attractive 'whiskey' voice coupled with the speech patterns of a 10 year old child talking about the Jonas Brothers.
I think she's just up Laszlo's alley.
"I bet the haters ..."
Someone is promoting hate on this website, but it's not "The Unfan Club Of #LauraOnJeopardy".
Ann, if you got "haters" from that article, you need to look in the mirror.
I mainly noticed extending the final vowel sound in a sentence. As if singing. Probably wouldn't have noticed it, particularly, without the montage. Chopping off words as if merely speaking them is one of the many things I do wrong when trying to sing.
Georgie said...
Her style of speaking is clear and bright, reflecting a quick mind, I believe. Why would this annoy anyone, it's really not all that unusual. Sarah Palin's high pitched screechy rambling speech set my teeth on edge, this woman is a breath of fresh air compared to her.
11/24/15, 1:27 PM"
Let me guess, you are waayys tarred of Hillary's speaking voice and manner.
Alex's custom of repeating her answer tends to cover some of the extended syllabyllitude. Sounds a bit odder second time through the video, but why am I commenting on this, anyway?
I don't consider myself a "hater," but I do hate the sound of nails on chalkboard, although I prefer it to listening to Lauraaaaaa. She sounds like a mash-up of Vocal Fry with a bad W. C. Fields imitation.
A friend of mine, who loves JEOPARDY way more than I do, says that if Lauraaaa stays around as champion, she'll watch it with the sound down.
The only vocal habits that "annoy" me are conscious ones, or subconscious ones that indicate the speaker's first priority is sounding like the group.
I don't think this meets those criteria, so based on limited evidence: Not Annoying.
On second listening, I do hear what people are calling up-talk, although it is slight compared to the length of the drag on the rest of the word. It's a scoop--drops down, drags, and then pulls up at the end.
I do not, however, hear vocal fry except on one word.
I know this girl. She is an exceptional attorney. She is a very good person as well
It reminds me a bit of Forrest Gump, but I don't take it as an affectation. I think she has early Parkinson's.
So there's people who have nothing better to do that sit around tweeting about Jeopardy?
They deserve to be annoyed!
I recognize it as a verbal tic many deal lawyers develop to "hold the floor" on conference calls and thus avoid being interrupted. She never utters the final falling tone that signals she's done talking. I do find it annoying, but it is effective.
It's like an accent. Which begs the question, "I wonder which part of the country she's from"?
Blocked; infringement of Copyright by Sony. Maybe you could write about whether this action by Sony is such a blatant disregard of the "Fair Use" doctrine that it is tantamount to prior restraint.
In the immortal words of Hall and Oates, She's gone.
I hope she's not using that Valley Girl drawl in court.
Blocked; infringement of Copyright by Sony.
I wonder if YouTube ever says "Fair Use" when a corporation complains. I doubt it -- even though this obviously is.
I thought she had a nice voice. At least she doesn't sound like Barbara Walters.
Unsurprisingly, you have yet another minority opinion on this one - even according to what other women seem to be saying about this on Twitter. The problem isn't having a woman's voice. The problem is pretending to be more unsure of oneself than one needs to be, even when making statements - not just asking questions. It's a ploy to get more and more and more sympathy and dumb oneself down even when there's absolutely nothing objective to be gained by doing so. I've searched my soul and the souls of enough women to know when something unconsciously done is still a ploy to gain undue advantage.
"Blocked; infringement of Copyright by Sony"
The show should put up the video. You'd think they'd value social media promoting them.
MadisonMan: Blocked; infringement of Copyright by Sony.
I wonder if YouTube ever says "Fair Use" when a corporation complains. I doubt it -- even though this obviously is.
YouTube, per se, can't. Sony filed a DMCA take-down form, so YouTube has to take down the video.
Now, the original uploader can, should they choose, file a DMCA form with YouTube claiming Fair Use. If they do, YouTube will (or at least should) reenable the video. At that point, Sony would have to actually go to court and get a judge to order the video taken down.
At least, that's my understanding of how DMCA works. It's intended to alleviate YouTube, the service provider, of any responsibility for copyright infringement on their site. The copyright disagreement is between Sony and the uploader, not YouTube.
I found her habit of extending the final syllable of "hundruuuuhhd" and "thousuuuuhhnd" extremely annoying. It reminded me of the sportscaster who does the Yankee games on radio: "THUUUuuuuuuhh pitch". By the end of last night's show I was openly rooting for her opponents. I'm sure she's a lovely person and eminently qualified as an attorney, but I just can't get around the fact that her voice seems deliberately affected.
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