Remember when “Up talking” was just for teenage girls and gay men? Those were the fucking days.
If you are as old as dirt and you don’t know what “up talking” is — here’s a good example:
But notice this video is 6 years old. That time is important.
We used to look down on “Up Talking.” I remember more than a decade ago, telling a young female colleague she had to stop it.
The clients complained — they didn’t think she knew what she was doing. They felt every sentence was a question and thought she was unsure of what to do next.
I knew that wasn’t true. She knew her shit. But that Valley Girl tone made her sound stupid.
“They are paying us to give them advice,” I said. “Just say: ‘I suggest’ and make your pitch with no equivocations.” I should have stopped there, but the middle-age mansplaining got me. “Drop your voice at the end of the sentence. It sounds like you are unsure when you ‘up talk.”
She looked at me like I was a sexist piece of shit. I have no idea if she ever dropped her voice. But a month later, the clients loved her. I knew they would. She was good.
It took ten years for karma to catch up with me.
Last week, I was on a call with a “recruiter”.
“You drop your voice at the end of each sentence,” she said. “You sound depressed.”
Well, now I’m fucking depressed. The world has turned upside down. “Up talking” is the new business norm. If you don’t raise your voice like a 9th-grade girl at the end of every sentence you are old and morose and un-hireable. Fuck me.
If the business world is going to sound like the girl in this video, count me out. I’m going to start a down-talking revolution. Drop your voice like a grown up and return to the days when up-talking was not acceptable around the grown ups.
Who’s with me?
Fuck Uptalking. #TalkLikeAFuckingAdult
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Categories: Political Correctness
https://youtu.be/4s5yHUpumkY
Perfect clip. How did I miss it until now?
Uptalking, downtalking. Whatever happened to regular talking with all its natural and varied inflections. When you say “downtalking”, this is what I think of (hope the link works. If not, it is Eeyore, in all his glorious gloom).
I finally got the video to play. Gotta love depressed donkeys.
I’m with you. Other pet peeves include fast talking, talking like one of the Kardashians (I don’t even know what to call that, flat?), vocal fry, dropping the end of a sentence so low that the final thought falls off the cliff. Does anybody know how to speak with natural and varied inflections anymore, I wonder. Don’t even get me started on punctuating every phrase with “right?” Also, people who, when I answer their questions, respond with “perfect.” I give them my name, or any other personal data, because they’ve asked, and they say, “Perfect.”
I must confess I sometimes substitute “perfect” for thank you or correct. I will stop immediately. Ending a sentence with “right” is almost as bad as starting one with “Like…”
Or “awesome” after the reply. Grrrrr!
I’ve begun to say “brilliant” like the Brits do. Instead of perfect. Instead of up talking. Instead of actually listening to what anyone is saying. Try it.
Brilliant. Reminds me of that Guinness commercial. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3DPKf7y1F-Q
Guinness is my favorite beer 🍺