I wrote an article about this in 2009. It's mostly heard with very young women and girls. I believe it's called vocal fry, because the voice sounds as if it's been fried and has become raspy. Young girls sound bitter and cynical when they growl at the end of a sentence.
It very likely began with the Gen X mothers of the Millennias. This generation is scornful of the values of their Baby Boomer parents who left them a legacy of fractured families and federal deficits. Dad was promised a gold watch but got a pink slip instead. Thus, they are cynical and trust only themselves; team play is for Boomers.
As Gen X girls came of age, sturdy, clunky shoes became the rage. Colette Dowling’s 1981 book “The Cinderella Complex” may have inspired them to convey to the world that they had both feet planted firmly on the ground and were not about to depend on a man to take care of them. Sadly, they entered the workforce and encountered the Glass Ceiling.
So, the stage was set for many of these young women to express their cynicism more and more. It can only be assumed that either directly or indirectly their young daughters subconsciously picked it up. Within a few years, their friends picked it up. Now it’s apparently a part of their persona. I truly hope it’s not too late to snuff out this unfortunate trend.
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