No surprise

Actually, when I hear my own recorded voice, I often hear a more specific California/surfer drawl. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley at a time when the surf culture was dominant. We admired the hell out of the exotic surfers with their mellow, lazy way of talking, which mirrored what we imagined to be their carefree lives. We wanted to look like them and sound like them, even though most of us never set foot on a surfboard when we traveled to the beach.

I've long suspected that the nexus for the delivery of the coastal accents to us inlanders was the Sherman Oaks Galleria, made famous in the song "Valley Girl," which popularized Valleyspeak (which was largely sped-up and clipped surferspeak) nationwide. Most bus trips between the Valley and the beaches required a transfer at Sepulveda Blvd. and Ventura Blvd., so a pit stop at the Galleria was a given. The McDonald's inside the mall was often half-filled with a collection of real surfer dudes (usually without any female companions, because they were visiting to poach our Valley Girls) and us fake surfer dudes and chicks.

And now it seems that, like, all young people sound like Valley Girls. I don't know how that happened. I only know how it happened to me.

(Quiz link discovered from PZ.)