Jump to content

Valleyspeak

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pictureuploader (talk | contribs) at 08:34, 21 April 2006 (→Vocabulary). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Valspeak is a common name for the dialect used by valley girls, stereotypical dumb blondes, living in the San Fernando Valley, with rich parents, a superficial social life and a lot of attention for fashion and parties. This stereotype originated in the 1970s, but was at its peak in the 1980s and still popular in the 1990s. Though a fad, many phrases and elements of Valspeak, along with surfer slang and skateboarding slang, have become a permanent part of the California English dialect, and in some cases wider American English (such as the widespread use of "like" as conversational filler).

The term "Valley Girl" and the Valley manner of speech was given a wider circulation with the release of a hit single by Frank Zappa entitled "Valley Girl," on which Moon Unit Zappa, Frank's fourteen-year-old daughter, delivered a monologue of meaningless phrases in "valspeak" behind the music. This song, Frank Zappa's only Top 40 hit in the United States, popularized phrases such as "grody to the max." Some of the terms used by Moon were not actually Valley phrases, but were surfer terms instead (such as "tubular" and "gnarly"). But due to the song's popularity, some of the surfer phrases actually entered the speech of real Valley teens after this point. The Los Angeles surfing subculture, on the other hand, did not generally begin using the Valley terms.

Intonation

Emphasizing phrases

"totally", "so totally"

  • Meaning: "very" or "really"
  • Usage: Can be used anywhere in a sentence, even in syntactically awkward positions (e.g. before verbs)
  • Examples: "I totally paused!", "He so totally said that to her!"

"like"

  • Usage: Expresses a state of emotion or a stance; may be used as a kind of conversational cadigan.
  • Example: "She was like 'oh my gawd you have to see this', but I was like, 'no way, you're kidding!'"

"why"

  • Usage: Added for emphasis, but has no particular meaning.
  • Example: "Oh, why, that came out of nowhere!"

"duh!"

  • Meaning: "Everybody knows that!", "I can't believe you (think) that!", etc.
  • Usage: Usually said with heavy emphasis, often while rolling your eyes. Commonly begins a sentence or phrase, or is its own sentence.
  • Example: "Did you write that?" "Duh, it's like a famous quote!"

"As if!"

  • Meaning: "You are wrong", "It's not going to happen", "You wish", etc.
  • Usage: Used in its own sentence, usually to contradict the previous sentence or demonstrate skepticism.
  • Example: "You expect me to wear that? As if!"

"Whatever!"

  • Meaning: "I don't believe you", "I don't care", etc.
  • Usage: Used as a complete sentence to dismiss a topic. Special emphasis is placed on "Ever".
  • Example: "You're, like, so totally out of nail polish? What-EVER!"

"Worst (something) ever!"

  • Meaning: Short for "This is the worst (something) I have ever seen!"
  • Usage: Usually said with significant pauses between each word.
  • Example: "Worst. Movie. Ever!"

"so", "like", "OK", "you know", "or something"

  • Usage: Usually used as fillers with no particular meaning.
  • Example: "So OK, I was totally like, you know, so 'I have no idea' or something!"

(Also see Vocabulary below.)

Other characteristics

The dialect can often be distinguished by its intonation, and by its pharyngealisation of certain consonant sounds, particularly the "L" and rhotic "R" sounds occurring in the coda. Pharyngealisation is rare in the English language and its presence here is possibly unique within American English, though it is detectable in similar circumstances in some variants of Irish English and Scottish English.

Vocabulary

Word Definition
Airhead An intellectual lightweight (e.g. a valley girl)
Awesome Very good. (e.g. "That movie was totally awesome!")
Barf To vomit
Outtie (5000) Out of here (e.g. I'm outtie.)
Baldwin Handsome boy or man (from the Baldwin brothers)
Barf bag Jerk
Barney An unattractive boy or man (presumably from the Flintstones character Barney Rubble)
Betty Beautiful girl or woman (stated on the Whatever! dvd edition that the term 'betty' comes from The Flintstones character Betty Rubble)
Bitchin' Cool
Buggin' Freaking out. (usu. mildly)
Dork Originally slang for a penis (as used in 16 Candles), but eventually came to mean geek or nerd
Dude General term for a male, but may also be used in a derogatory manner, or to get someone's attention.
Dweeb Nerd
Classic Great
Fiesta Party
Fer sure! Certainly
Gag me with a spoon! That's disgusting (from a method of inducing vomiting)
Gnarly Good
Grody Disgusting (e.g. grody to the max) (from "grotesque")
I'm so sure! (spoken sarcastically) I don't believe you.
Joanie Unhip girl (from the Joanie Cunningham character on Happy Days)
Later Goodbye
Loadie Stoned boy or girl
Monet Someone (or thing) that looks good from afar, but up close it's a total mess. (e.g., "That hag is a full-on Monet!")
Postal To go insane/freak out/bug (as in "going postal".)
Psych! Just kidding
Rad Very cool (from "radical")
Rays Sunlight. (e.g., "I'm going to the beach to catch some rays.") See UVs.
Scarf To eat (e.g., "I toally scarfed that burger!")
Sketchy Weird/suspicious (e.g., "that guy looks sketchy"; "I dunno, you were acting kind of sketchy about [x]."
Spaz A hyperactive nerd/geek. (e.g., "That guy is a total spaz!")
To the max More of the preceding adjective (e.g. grody to the max)
Tubular Very cool
UVs Ultraviolet radiation, the property in natural sunlight that causes skin to tan. (e.g. I'm heading down to the beach to get some UVs.)
to Veg (out) To rest (from "vegetate")

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valleyspeak&oldid=49416930"